Type of Government: Pseudo-Absolute Monarchy, Federal State of the Yllendyr ImperiumSummary: Formerly a land ruled by a minority elite of Draconic slaver-barons, individual petty Dragon conqueror-kings and occasionally a few lands ruled by elven or human rebels, the Dominion of Vaurgemyr (then known as the Kingdoms of the Vaurgemyrean) was conquered by the Yllendyr Imperium after the Drow’s advances in military technology, namely, guns, made Dragons far more vulnerable to massed armies than they had ever been before. While Dragons had typically been exterminated in other kingdoms and lands prior to the Yllendyr due to their natural tendency towards domination and tyranny, the Drow in a moment of realpolitik decided to maintain their rule of the region to ensure that there was another slavery-dependent race on the continent so to deflect rebellious forces elsewhere, as well as to have a much needed source of naturally flight-capable soldiers. As such, while an elf-dominated state, all flying races (Dragons, Valkyrians and Harpies) are given highly preferential treatment and privileges within the wider Imperium, and Dragons in particular maintain most of their old landed titles/peerage or gentry.

Government

The change in technology in the world ended Dragon’s individual supremacy of warfare and their ability to singularly conquer or terrorise nations. While the ruling dragon minority remained highly powerful, enough so to persuade their Yllendyr conquerors to spare them as future subordinates, no longer could a single dragon inspire the terror to maintain millions of slaves. The petty kingdoms, robber-barons and sitting bandits of the Vaurgemyrean collapsed to the onslaught of massed advanced elven technology.

While the Dragons maintained their lands and titles due to the benefits the Yllendyr gained from keeping them (An army of aristocratic air-knights capable of burning down whole towns or cities single-handedly, something they made great use of in future wars), their influence waned over the centuries as the Ellempyr (High Elves) reasserted dominance and the Yllendyr (Drow) migrated into their new conquered territories. Harpies and Valkyrians were empowered as well, also being naturally flying races, the Yllendyr wished for an even greater pool of flight-capable soldiers to aid in their conquest of the rest of the continent and the islands, as well as Avalia. (Vaurgemyrean Valkyrians in particular took joy in the Conquest of Avalia).

Today, Vaurgemyr is ruled as a a faux-absolute monarchy with some degree of constitutionalism. The native monarch is a figurehead maintained by the Imperium and is always from one of the Draconic Slave-Baron dynasties. While there is no actual constitution or true legislative body, the cabinet of the government is dominated by elven figures and headed by the Imperium’s Viceory, who makes the majority of national decisions. There is a ‘Diet of the Peers and Gentry’ (Or more commonly The Diet), which is a quasi-legislative body where representatives of the Elven, Draconic, Harpish and Valkyrian elite (Which must be landed aristocrats, no bourgeois involvement) put forward their concerns and issues which are then looked over by the Viceroy.

Economy

Vaurgemy’s economy is relatively traditional with a combination of draconic feudal land-owners, slave labour and Elven artisans and industrialisation. While most dragon land-owners remain sitting-bandit types which are economically complacent and decadent, there is a minority that have started adapting Elven industrialisation into a more efficient form of exploiting slave-labour. While continued resistance to the Bourgeois and Labour have stalled more advanced leaps in industrialisation, the mass-exploitation of human slaves means labour costs for cheap goods are nearly unrivaled.

The ascendancy of the corporate form has also enabled the advancement of finance and so further boasted industrialisation in Vaurgemyr - though there is significant resistance to public corporations due to fears of empowering the Bourgeois.

Vaurgemyr has an abundance of mineral wealth due to their mountainous southern regions which they exploit as well as hold numerous Draconic citadel-palaces built into the mountains. Iron Ore, Coal, Sulphur and numerous other minerals are extracted and exported. Vaurgemyr while using Yllendyr’s Silver Standard-backed currency are also fervent miners of Gold, which in particular has a very high demand due to Dragon’s tendency towards hoarding it.

Currency: Vaurgemyr like all of Yllendyr's primary Dominions has the same currency as the Heartlands, being the Dacha, which is furthermore based on a silver-standard.

Industry: Industry is growing slowly but steadily, as the combined industrialisation influence of Yllendyr and reforms in finance has pushed it forward - though there is heavy resistance due to the combination of the fact the nation is ruled by landowning peers rather than bourgeoise and because slave-labour makes further advances in more advanced mechanisation less desirable due to the low cost of labour (slaves also lower the demand in the economy, slowing growth).

Literacy: The Literacy Rate is moderate (60-70% roughly), as while the upper class is highly literate and there is a growing educated middle-class, slavery remain legal and encompasses a solid 20% of the population who remain totally uneducated, and as such caps Vaurgemyr’s literacy at 80%.

Population: 75 million Racial Demographics: Vaurgemyr is quite ethnically diverse, though if the two Elven ethnicities are combined, they create a majority of 72% of the population. Historically, Vaurgemyr was ruled by a tiny ethnic minority of Dragons. Post-Yllendyr Invasion, Dragons still hold many of their old titles and ruling elite position, though actual power and influence has since been siphoned to the Elven majority and their imperial supporters in Yllendyr. The Elven population consists of a combination of ruling aristocrats, landowners and bourgeois middle-class. Lower class elves exist, but mostly as urban poor and workers. Dragons, Valkyrians and Harpies were all given titles and land (or in the case of Dragons, allowed to maintain theirs) as part of the post-invasion ‘Charter of Peerage’ which in return for service in the Yllendyr Army and support in the Drow’s conquest of the entire Old World remained as empowered elite minorities. Humanity, following the past policies of Yllendyr and the Ellempyr (High Elves) as well as the Dragons, are a race that is entirely enslaved and holds no rights or privileges, being consigned to chattel slave labour, backbreaking rural agricultural work and being hunted and eaten by Harpy aristocrats/air-knights during their Full Moon and Winter Solstice religious festivals. The 6.6% of other races consists of other slaves besides humans who have been imported from across the Imperium, as well as a small minority of free peoples, expats, etc.

Culture

Language: The Dominion speaks a regional dialect of Yllerian, with slight grammatical and spelling changes but with a significantly different accent and pronunciation - both of which are due to the Ellempyr's own language over time being fused into Yllendyr's. The Draconic tongue is also practised as a secondary language and is still commonly used, particularly by Vaurgemyr's elites who wish to speak in secrecy from the commoners trained in only the elven tongue.

Slave Society: The Dominion of Vaurgemyr is and always has been built on the back of slavery. Every human is a slave of some kind. The Elf and predominately Draconic states of Pre-Invasion Vaurgemyr widely enslaved humanity, and while free Harpies existed, Captured Harpy raiders from the Old Forest were made slaves as well. After Yllendyr's conquest, slavery in Vaurgemyr was expanded and normalised even beyond what the Dragons had maintained beforehand, resulting in the entire human race inhabiting Vaurgemyr being enslaved. Harpies were liberated from slavery as part of the 'Charter of Peers' which provided them with confiscated land from the enemies of Yllendyr (or former human lands) in exchange for providing Harpy soldiers to form their new 'Air Corps' that would go on to conquer the Old World. Humans are mostly treated in a chattel slave manner, being tasked with hard-labour in the mines, farms or simple manufacturing. They are given no rights. Human slaves for Harpies, in particular, are used for their religious ceremonies of hunting sentient beings and then eating them.

Draconic Decadence (Inherent Biology): Dragons are, by their nature, callous and can quickly become tyrannical creatures. They are inherently seeking to dominate, control and exploit others - and in fact, do not feel fulfilled or content unless this is being demonstrably obvious. A Dragon in absence of this control-domination will become mentally unstable, depressed or even eventually suicidal if given long enough time - though they will typically strike out aggressively and either win or die long before this. A Dragon's intelligence may alter this though, as a rather dim Dragon may be satisfied with being a Prison Warden, for example, mistaking its position as the ownership of prisoners - meanwhile, a highly intelligent Dragon may feel satisfied in a liberal democracy if it tricks itself into seeing its employees as wage slaves. The legendary image of a greedy dragon hoarding gold, stealing princesses and lording themselves over feudal peasants with threats of fire, demands of taxation and coercion of tribute exists for a reason. This is not to say that Dragons are incapable of empathy or are universally psychopathic, but rather are psychologically oriented towards domination and exploitation. A Dragon may be kind and charitable to what it considers its 'owned things'. A 'Liberal' Dragon as such is typically at best a Benevolent Dictator or believer in Enlightened Despotism. In the words of some radical psychologists, they are an entire race of narcissists, to varying degrees of severity. Draconic states that have existed in the past are typically unstable since they were once a singular dragon (sometimes with a small family unit or harem) establishing themselves as a one-person absolute dictatorship, these states usually sucked dry those enslaved until the dragon was eventually vanquished by knights or other heroic figures.

Charter of Peers: The 'Three Airs', being the flight-capable race trio of Dragons, Valkyrians and Harpies despite being very small minorities in Vaurgemyr have been given overwhelming disproportionate privileges and entitlements comparable to the elven majority - the purpose of this is to ensure a constant and stable pool of air-knights to enable the Yllendyr Imperium to continue monopolising airpower, and so dominate the Old World. These privileges included large land endowments, particularly taken from Yllendyr enemies during the conquests, as well as legal protections, tax exemptions, slave ownership and representation in organisations.

Knights in the Air: Vaurgemyrean Valkyrians, in particular, are renown for a combination of excellent martial prowess yet possessing aristocratic titles considered lesser; mostly controlling highly mountainous regions that lack the wealthy agricultural land or manufacturing of their northern fellow peers and gentry. As such, they specialise themselves in the art of aerial warfare beyond all others, dedicating themselves as generational retainers and hereditary knights to more powerful dynastic families. While Dragons are typically in command, it is the Valkyrians who are the ones actually dominating the air battle for Vaurgemyr.

Nobility Above All: Aristocracy is a dominant concept in Vauregmyr, for both Elves and the Flying Races. Blood and hereditary are everything, and familial and blood ties, as well as race, define your class and status. Noble customs are widespread throughout the culture, and after the Yllendyr conquest, much of the native aristocracy have adopted many such aristocratic customs of the elves. The nobility are considered a higher being inherently by their nature and there is stiff resistance to class mobility - a slave may not be a freeman, particularly since they are human. A poor aristocrat will always be superior to a rich bourgeoise, as the latter's pedigree is always weak. Family history is highly regarded and descendants will often have their lives shaped by their ancestors - a son of a traitor will be barred from positions of authority for example. Aristocrats are also provided many privileges and protections not afforded to other castes. Hereditary roles and caste-like hierarchy are common, with lesser families being bound to higher families for generations. Certain Air-Knight families, in particular, are hereditary retainers for other families.

High Elven Culture: The High Elves maintain a traditionalist, aristocratic and decadent but also romanticist culture. Gentry, for example, are expected to cease working upon reaching a wealth status that no longer requires them to work (particularly with land ownership and very low inheritance taxes). High-level Elven peers are expected to be artists, musicians, writers and philosophers - the only exception being the 'knight', a martial aristocratic living channelling chivalry. Fancy parades and overcomplicated drilling is a must. Religion is far more prevalent amongst the High Elves than their Dark Elf cousins, however, the Pantheonic Cult and Libertine nature of Elven Religion and their deities (A god of prosperity and goddess and love among others are not particularly ascetic figures).

Geography

Location/Territories: Old World, South-Eastern Continent. The Purplish-Burgundy on the far-east coast.

Climate: Primarily temperate, though with cold winters and somewhat colder than the northern temperate regions. Many mountains and hills, with the northern areas of Vaurgemyr being warmer and more fertile with grasslands and fields. The border with Old Forest is somewhat militarised and includes areas cut down by logging operations.

Military

Vaurgemyr has no standing land or naval forces as being a closely aligned dominion of the Yllendyr Imperium, its land-based army and naval forces is the Yllendyr Imperium's armed forces instead. Vaurgemyr does possess an extensive police force to deal with possible human slave revolts, however. Its primary military asset instead is its exceptionally large and skilled airforce, which it is allowed to maintain as a state entity (alongside federal air-corp troops). Vaurgemyr is the primary recruitment pool for the entire Imperium's air-corps personnel, with its variety of Dragons, Valkyrians and Harpies supported by extensive and longstanding Air Academies, Air-Knight institutions, generational air-knight aristocratic families and other establishments putting it at the forefront of Aerial Combat expertise. Vaurgemyr maintains two 20,000 strong Air-Corps as a state entity, consisting of mostly high aristocratic Dragon scions supported by retainer Valkyrian and Harpy Air-Knights. While possessing no standing state army, there stand around 400,000 federal troops from the Yllendyr Imperium. Vaurgemyr possesses a significant draftable population, including around 72 million elves, though its enslaved Human population are forbidden from carrying arms and are not used as soldiers.

Those were the supposed last words that came from the Vaurgemyrean Ambassador to the Kingdom of Avalia, before silence down the telephone line followed, or so it was said. The sudden and violent upheaval had taken Vaurgemyr’s leadership totally unawares - far more so than the civil war now ripping apart the Yllendyre Imperium.

Within the halls of the Lymwurm Palace, halls, where were made far larger than for mere humans, gathered the attendees, servants and minions of Vaurgemyr’s rulers. The gathering was one of a plethora of peoples; from elven calligraphers and ministers to harpy Dragoon guards, human servants and even a goblin - the last of which was dressed as a jester. They represented the highest slave classes. Oxymoron isn’t it? The highest of the slaves.

But that was the life of being in the service of Dragons, thought Heinka of Ghrimaulungdr. Heinka was a Dragoon Guard, the elite of the elite when it came to soldiery in the Vaurgemyr Dominion. As she walked behind her master, the golden-scaled Lord Orthysliz, she couldn’t help but glance momentarily at the riches of the hall. Gold; and it was everywhere. Paintings, statues, jewels, relics and yet more gold covered the expanse of the chamber. Like a contained golden sea or dunes of some distant new world desert. Heinka was a slave, but she knew that very few in the world could claim to be able to witness such a sight.

She was a Valkyrian - of the imperial breed mind you. Born into slavery, if you want to call it that, but nothing like what those human savages endure - or what they once forced her people to endure. Every day she had to remind herself that she was proud of her status, of the great privilege and honour it was to be a Dragoon, to be born into a retinue* and fight for her master the Lord Orthysliz.

Sometimes she hid doubts, a hidden shame for the word ‘slave’. But here, in perhaps one of the most bejewelled chambers in the world, she knew the majesty of the lords she so loyally fought for - far more than the squalor that she would have lived in under the heel of the human anyway.

She and the Dragoon Guard detail following the Lord Orthysliz continued walking through the gold dunes, ignoring the questioning looks of various Dragons lying on or among the gold, many of those looks come from glaring eyes that only broke the surface of the gold, the rest buried and invisible. The guard detail walked until they approached what appeared to be some kind of raised dais surrounded by silk and a canopy, raised just above the dunes of gold. One of the Lord Orthysliz’s three heads turned, facing her. He did not even need to speak - the slight nod and squinting of his eyes were all he needed for her to understand he wished his guard detail to halt. In that following instant, she raised her arm and the guards behind her stopped. The Lord Orthysliz, A huge dragon of gold with three menacing heads, cared not for the sensibilities of this court - in fact, he and in extension Heinka were here without even a summoning. The Dragon, however, was powerful. He had secured the current Dowager-Empress her rule with his coup, among other things… The courtier dragons and various advisers and servants quickly made room and pretended Orthysliz was supposed to be here.

She could not hear what they said from this distance, but she knew why they were here. It was time. The Imperial Valkyrians have been waiting for generations for this moment - the return of their people to glory. It had only been a mere three days since the treacherous Avalians had shown their true colours yet again. War was coming very, very soon, she was certain of this and The Lord Orthysliz, always eager for a fight was calling for first blood. He would lead the intrepid 4th Air Regiment personally, and in fact, he had them assembling in the capital already.

It did not matter if the child-emperor or his ruling mother said yea or nay, they would be attacking the Avalians by the light of tomorrow’s dawn. To be honest, thinking on it as she grinned, the rare expression breaking her usually stoic frown...

She was eager too.

/~~~~~~~~~~~~\

The wait was long, but Heinka was used to standing at attention for long periods of time. Her draconic masters were hissing their words, and from her distance, she could see exaggerated movement of wings and tails. A seemingly female voice from the distance finally shouted a definitive ‘Then go!’ - Heinka assumed it was the Dowager-Empress. The Lord Orthysliz turned and almost pranced back - and the look of the dragon was one of a cat just before it pounced on an unsuspecting mouse. He had done it.

‘Captain, We make for Adrean’ One of the Lord Orthysliz’s heads announced, walking past his guards to exit the palace.

Battle-eagerness had quickly moved through the guard detail like an electrical spark upon this realisation. The guard detail with new vigour formed up behind Orthysliz on Heinka’s command. They marched through the halls, chambers and great passages of the palace until they reached the city beyond it, leaving through the great gates of the palace and returning to a gathering of soldiers that were those of the 4th Air.

The Harpies and Valkyrians saluted immediately, while the various Dragons bowed their heads.

‘Dragoons of the 4th Air! The Emperor Vermathysliz has given me his orders, and they are to take first blood!’ The middle head shouted, drawing the attention of not only his personal army but those of nobles and servants around the palace. ‘We make for Adrean at once, and once there we will be putting down this pathetic insurgency’. Orthysliz’ wings then started beating, great gusts of wind blowing across the palace courtyards followed.

‘The Emperor has deemed it is time to march to war, but those peon commoners and chattel don’t have the privilege to strike first - I expect you all to show no mercy or hesitation, and to show the rest of the Dominion and the Yllendyre how it is done. I know you will not fail’. The Lord Orthysliz declared the final comment part warning, part praise for their skill. Orthysliz was a simple enough master to understand. He was honest and direct and would reward competence but be harsh to those who failed him.

‘Yes, my lord!’ the 4th Air shouted in response, Heinka along with the others.

Orthysliz then lifted himself into the air, and the rest of the regiment gathered did so as well, a small swarm of flying soldiers rising above the cities spires, drawing the attention of much of the city.

The 4th Air Regiment quickly reached higher altitudes, the capital city shrinking as they rose above the clouds and arced towards the direction of Avalia. They flew significantly slower than their maximum speed, as the heavy 2nd rate dragons* in their regiment could not meet the same speeds as the 4th rates*, or the Valkyrians and Harpies. It is for this reason that the Lord Orthysliz, in mid-flight, turned one of his heads towards Heinka.

‘Captain. The Northern regions of Avalia must be taken, immediately, and I expect to see a proper war when I arrive - you will give me a landing at Adrean. Take your Company and fly them straight to the city, and make sure it is ready for my arrival. Engage hostiles as you see fit. I remember your ferocity from my little adventure at the Palace those years ago. You will serve me well again. Now go.’ He hissed, and Heinka nodded, her eyes turning to steel and her former bloodlust turning to cold determination.

‘It will be done my lord’. She responded, a dry monotone as her eyes hardened. She leaned her wings to the side, and reformed formation with her company.

‘Falk Company, to me! Our lord Orthysliz has orders. We are moving ahead at 80 km/h! It's time for war’. She shouted over the wind, and with a burst of speed, she and the other Falk Company Dragoons rushed forward, leaving the rest of the Regiment behind. They would be in Adrean in but six hours.

/~~~~~~~~~~~~\

The Imperial Treasure Hoard, Lymwurm Palace-Citadel

The Emperor Vermathysliz watched quietly from his canopied dais, observing yet another exchange of sharp words between his mother and one of her current ‘favourites’.

‘Then go!’ yelled the Dowager-Empress Ciziebetta. Ghrimaulung Orthysliz, the recipient of his mother’s temporary wrath merely grinned, the smugness visible on all three of his faces. He turned with a proud show-off beat of his wings and left to the small army of awaiting Dragoons. The Emperor noted that Orthysliz’s guards now leaving behind the smug goldenscale seemed to include Valkyrians, particularly a fierce and serious looking black haired girl. They were his favourites. One of his maids, Natiya, was one too. She was friendly and moved around the figurine soldiers and Goblins when he told her to. She may even be his favourite servant, like Roman the Dragoon or his elven Governess, even if he kept forgetting her name.

‘Mother, why did the Avalians rebel so violently?' He asked, now that Orthysliz was gone. It seems mad, they were already gaining their freedom. 'Are they coming for us now?’ he continued, wondering if his dear Natiya or Roman would one day go crazy too, and betray him.

‘The Avalian nobles made a terrible mistake - They forgot what it meant to be a ruler of lesser peoples. You may be feared, or you may be loved, but love is temporary while fear is enduring - and so they once ruled with fear, as does all wise rulers’ his mother spoke. Vermathylis wished to argue with her, but was prematurely shushed by his mother.

‘They ruled with fear, and then tried to be loved - but all they did was give those who hated them freedom and power, and with that power, those that hated them rose up and now they will slaughter them to the last. Do not make the mistakes of the Avalian nobles, or the foolish Emperor Olarth. One day you will rule this empire, perhaps even as a free nation again, but if you do not mature and recognise that your ‘dear maid’ acknowledges you only through fear - that the lesser races do not forget - then the human commoners and their ilk will rise up and butcher everyone in their path here too, as they have done in Avalia and surely soon in Aurelia.

The Emperor frowned, partly frightened by the certainty of her words, partly refuting her statement as he thought her words wrong. He lived in his mother’s shadow, ever since the Palace Coup, he had little to no influence over his own nation or people. So he went silent and returned to hiding under the silken canopy the resided within.

His mother though, turned her long neck towards another adviser - this one a Yllendyr, or dark elf. The ones that lorded themselves over his people. In fact, this particular elf was THE elf that Yllendyre had sent to lord themselves over him particularly, even if she was really outmatched in that regard by his mother.

‘Yirva, I expect you will have the reins over the Yllendyr forces in Vaurgemyr?’

‘It is as you say, your Grace. The Imperial Army will respond to your will, so long as they are aimed at the separatists’.

‘Then know this. The time for waiting is over. I will not stand idly by while the future of our nation and my son’s rule is jeopardised by a mob of fanatical zealots’. His mother then went quiet, and looked slowly around at the various courtiers and servants, all now listening closely.

‘I hereby decree a state of war now exists between the Imperial Dominion of Vaurgemyr and the unsubstantiated rabble that would dare call themselves the… Republic of Avalia’. His mother took on that haughty, cold voice he heard from her when she was lecturing him. He knew he should be the one making that speech, but there was nothing he could really do. These men and women listened to her, not to him.

‘With my declaration of war, it is within my powers to call on the College of War to assemble my army, and as such, I am calling on said esteemed body to proceed to a general mobilisation. By my will and the grace of Yllendyr, the many gods of Vaurgemyr and by the glory of our empire - Let the Avalians know that their days of inflicting terror are numbered, and their day of dying has only just begun!’

The entire court responded by a combination of shouts, hurrahs, ‘Yes, your majesty’ and even some draconic roars. The Emperor sighed and folded his wings over himself as to try futilely to drown out the noise. Perhaps he could try and play another game with Natiya - pretend war, where no one died and he actually had a say with how his people would die.

/~~~~~~~~~~~~\

February 8th, 1901, 8:00pm

Dowager-Empress Ciziebette’s declaration of war, as heard by the Imperial Court of Vaurgemyr, is officially announced across the nation via radio as the Emperor Vermathysliz's declaration. The declaration of war is also transmitted to both the still present ambassador to the (now-defunct) Kingdom of Avalia and publicly to the people of the unrecognised Republic of Avalia. A state of war now exists between the two nations and peoples as of this date.

Official Communications are also sent to neighbouring states concerning matters of the war, including messages passed through the Yllendyr Regent to both Emperor Ecruir and (more discreetly) to Emperor Olarth.

The Elite 4th Air Regiment rushes forwards straight to Northern Avalia. The Falk Company detachment of lighter air units (4th Rates and Escort Harpies/Valkyrians) will arrive in 5-6 hours, moving at around 80 km/h.

February 11th, 1901, 9:30am

Air-Knight Regiments are promptly deployed from their garrisons and household guard posts. The fastest 4th Rate Dragons are immediately deployed to likely engagement zones along the dividing mountain range between Vaurgemyr and Avalia.

February 13th, 1901, 6:00am

The Vaurgemyrean Dominion Navy (VDN) is deployed, heavy cruisers sail to join Ecruir’s navy in the blockade of Avalia.

While the mass mobilisation of Dragoons and Slave-Conscripts begins (through the form of drafting the Aristocrat’s of their slaves or by ordering Aristocrats to war and through that them mobilising their own slaves), the 300,000 Yllendr guardsmen and women of the Imperial Army immediately make movements towards Avalia.

Trains begin transporting troops and supplies south. These are guarded by air-based escorts in preemption of possible Valkyrian strikes.

/~~~~~~~~~~~~\

Treasure Hoard:-Treasure Hoard here is used in a similar sense of Throne or Throne Room, as Dragons use Treasure as a throne.

Retinue (Elite Slave):-A Retinue is a family of hereditary ‘elite slave’ servants, typically bound to a specific Draconic dynasty and given heredital positions that are passed down the generations, ranging from maids, to governesses, calligraphers, dragoon-guards and a host of other roles. Retinues despite being slaves and lacking freedom are generally well-off and given a high level of prestige and respect, and typically live an above average living standard (a standard similar to the middle-class of other free nations), particularly compared to the lives of the average commoner or slave. Many Dragons tend to view the well-offness of Retinues as a measure of the competency of their owner, so abused or neglected Retinues are a sign of a poor master. (This concern though does not typically extend to more distant slaves, like the Chattel)

Dragon Rates (Air Corps)-The concept of Rates’ are a form of military jargon used by the Vaurgemyr Air Corps, and refers to the weight classes of different Dragons employed or potentially employed by the Air Corps. 4th Rate Dragons are small, lighter dragons that typically can reach high speeds around the same as a Harpy, which is around 70-80km/h. Dragons that are heavier, bulkier, larger by birth or (in the case of certain aristocrats) simply fatter progressively go up the rate-scale, with 2nd Rate Dragons considered ‘Heavy Dragons’ used by the Air Corps, and typically fly around 25-35 km/h. Most of the Air Corps consists of 4th and 3rd Rate Dragons, with a smaller number of 2nd Rate Dragons that can keep up to speed. Nearly all military 1st Rate Dragons and most 2nd Rates are either given roles in the land-based Imperial Army or simply ignored altogether with military service as they are too large, slow and cumbersome to use for regular military action.

Summary: A european-esque land and slaver society dominated by a ruling minority of draconic elites, who were once landowning slavers and ruled purely through brute force (by virtue of being dragons) and now are industrialist-slavers who rule through various financial and economic forces and monopolies of resources - as well as force - and are using this to rapidly industrialise their empire and turn it into the world’s leading producer of cheap goods… using even cheaper slave labour. The majority of the country are either various minorities of human, harpy, goblins and other slaves, various groups of elves that are widespread on the continent (particularly high elves) and make up the Dominion’s fledging middle-class/lower-aristocracy, and the whole thing is watched by the tiny 1% draconic ruling elite, who struggle to take back sovereignty from their Elven compatriots.

Government

The change in technology in the world ended Dragon’s individual supremacy of warfare and their ability to singularly conquer or terrorise nations. While the ruling dragon minority remained highly powerful, no longer could a single dragon inspire the terror to maintain millions of slaves. Vaurgehm’s empire, Built two centuries ago, collapsed to the onslaught of massed advanced elven technology. With the fall of the empire, the rule of the old draconic and depotistic feudal-bandit style robber barons ended through the barrel of a gun. The remaining territory under control of Vaurgehm’s descendants, the Lymwurm Dynasty, eventually went through a period of adaptation in turn - The remaining Draconic Elites desperate to maintain hold of the lands, wealth and slaves they still held under their control.

Most importantly, the Dragons of Vaurgemyr maintained control of their mountain citadel-palaces and many of their deep mines and mineral wealth. As airpower had not yet been invented, the Yllendyr conquerors could not fully evict the Dragon elite from the lands, so permitted them to remain as unconquered vassals. Draconic aristocrats morphed and changed in their societal roles, transforming from landlords to mining barons, industrialists and, eventually even aristocratic-bankers - though they continued their role as slave-lords very well, using their wealth and economic monopoly to once again ensnare the lesser races (and keep the Petty Bourgeois down). The Bank of Wurms for example while not the world’s first bank, is considered one of the world’s first ‘modern corporations’, and the Banking elite would go on to propagate the concept of a ‘separate legal entity’, particularly in comparison to the archaic guild structure of Yllendyr. The Dragons surprising innovation would become a great success, and through their great wealth and influence, gradually began the process of retaking control of their nation and performing rapid industrialisation, even under the thumb of the Yllendtyr. The economic might of Vaurgemyr now grows rapidly with the massing of factories, foundries and smoking chimneys, the combination of corporations backed by a vast apparatus of cheap slave labour has led the Dominion to possibly hoisting the elves by their own technological petard.

Today, Vaurgehm’s descendants continue to rule, though they have branched out into numerous Cadet Dynasties ruling various banks, industrial manufacturing corporations and feudal lands, and even have financial interests in the larger Yllendyr Imperium. The actual ‘Emperor’ of Vaurgemyr is but a mere whelp (child), a puppet whose strings are fought over between his mother the Dowager-Empress who took over in a Palace Coup against her own husband; the Yllendyr Regent appointed by the Emperor in Yllendyr, The Draconic Slaver-Aristocracy and Military Aristocracy (who backed said Dowager-Empress' coup), Ellemite Bourgeois and Low-Aristocracy, Dragoon Elite-Slave Interests and even Dragon Ultranationalists who seek independence.

Economy

Vaurgemyr’s economy is dominated by a tiny minority of extremely powerful Draconic Slaver-Aristocrats, who have transformed from petty landowning sitting-bandits to full-blown Industrialist Slavers. This elite while typically decadent and complacent, exploiting feudal slaves by virtue of their physical strength as dragons and not much else, was forced into change by their catastrophic defeat to the Yllendyr, and so have embraced alien concepts like corporations and industrial-scale manufacturing, replacing Yllendyr’s old guild-artisan system and their own tributary banditry.

The ascendancy of proto-corporations has also led to the formation of the concept of the public company, and there are even talks of establishing a marketplace for ownership rights, what they are considering calling ‘shares’. Manufacturing is growing rapidly in the nation due to the opening up of finance and investment, and the economy may eventually overpower the archaic theories of the Yllendyr, even if slaves make complicated manufacturing impossible - Vaurgemyr can drown competitors in cheap labour. On the other hand, the rapid rise of manufacturing has also seen the rise of Ellemite (High Elven) low-aristocracy and even some free bourgeoisie Ellemites, the native elven majority seeing the rise of something never before conceived in these lands; a middle class. This middle class while further expanding the economy is considered a possible threat to the social order of the Dominion. The Elite Slave-Dragoon armies have also grown in influence due to the modernisation of warfare and Yllendyr’s Limiting Treaties forcing Vaurgemyr to rely on these slave paramilitary forces.

Industry: Industry is growing due to the great surplus of investment and finance, however complicated manufacturing remains underfunded due to the massive supply of cheap labour in the form of slaves. As such, manufacturing is typically more simpler mass-produced (labour intensive) items such as canned goods, steel, clothing and other small consumer goods that is simply for uneducated slaves to repeatedly put together. The production of low-quality massed and repetitive goods is extremely cheap due to said slave labour, and as such there are few competitors capable of meeting Vaurgemyr’s low costs of production.

Literacy: The Literacy Rate is moderate to low (40-50%), as while the upper class is highly literate and there is a growing educated middle-class, slavery remain legal and extremely widespread, even a core component of the culture, and as such ‘lesser races’ are both enslaved and uneducated - though there are many specialist and even ‘elite’ slaves with very specific skills such as Slave Calligraphers. Interestingly, the Draconic upper-class despite stereotypes and belief in the impracticality of it are highly well read and can even (with difficulty) write (though typically they have said specialised calligrapher slaves write for them).

Head of State: Emperor Vermathysliz und Lymwurm (A fourteen-year-old goldscaled Dragon whelp, nominally the supreme absolute ruler of Vaurgemyr. In reality, he is under regency and his mother, the Dowager-Empress Ciziebetta rules following her Palace Coup that overthrew Emperor Vermathysliz' father and previous ruler. Suspected to not actually be the previous emperor's son. Surrounded by slave servants and maids of the lesser races, as his mother is relatively distant)

The Imperial Court and Government:-Regent-Representative, Nolrimi Yirva (Nominal official Regent and Dark Elf Governor-General selected by the Yllendyr Emperor. A strict and disciplined military woman who was not prepared for the convoluted den of vipers that is the aristocratic sensibilities, palace politics and decadence of the Vaurgemyrean Imperial Court - and so is mostly seen as a rubber-stamp regent for the waning Yllendyr Imperium).

-Empress-Dowager, Ciziebetta ‘Cizi’ und Lymwurm (Former Harem Concubine of the previous Emperor and mother of the current Emperor. Took power in a violent Palace Coup with the backing of numerous disillusioned aristocrats unsatisfied with the previous Emperor's erratic and incompetent rule. De Facto leader of the country, though her rule is delegated between numerous 'favourites').

-General-In-Chief of the College of War, Ghrimaulung und Orthysliz (Chief-Of-Staff for the Imperial Army and head of the executive command/strategy apparatus of the military, multi-headed and goldscaled dragon aristocrat and Lord of Ungland-Orthygia (North-Eastern Vaurgemyr). Rose to power as one of the conspirators and the primary figure who led the physical Palace Coup that brought Ciziebetta to power while he was an Airknight Guard-Colonel of the 4th Airknight Regiment. Is one of the Dowager-Empresses 'favourites' and the current Emperor is suspected to be actually his. Brash, aggressive and arrogant).

-Captain Airknight and Imperial Valet, Caphorym und Pamotkyz (Redscaled Dragon and minor aristocrat, young Airknight from the Imperial 4th Airknight Regiment achieved far greater power than normal when he took place in the Palace Coup and personally escorted the Dowager-Empress to the Palace. Was later rewarded with promotions and a position as the Dowager-Empress' personal Valet, a powerful position however usually held by non-Dragon elite slaves. A prodigy despite youth, being able to speak numerous languages and well learned in numerous sciences and arts beyond war. Considered a dangerous upstart despite being one of the Dowager-Empress' 'favourites).

-Imperial Harem-Ambassador ??? to the Yllendyr Imperium -Ambassador ??? to the Kingdom of Avalia

Other Characters:-Squad 6 Medic

Demographics

Population: 75 million Racial Demographics: As a slaver empire, Vaurgemyr is quite ethnically diverse and in fact is a nation of minorities, with no single majority existing. Its ruling elite is also a tiny minority in comparison to the rest of the nation. Slaves make up the majority (over 58-60%) of the Dominion’s population, however the concept of ‘slave’ is broad, as certain specialist slaves have many different rights, roles and certain privileges that other slaves lack (E.g, the chattel slaves in the mines have far fewer rights than the Elite Slave-soldier Dragoons or Household Servants of the Dragon Aristocracy). Humanity is nearly universally a slave race, as are goblins, who actually enjoy their enslavement (due to their peculiar - and to Dragons very desirable - psychology). Harpies too are a slave race and descend from captured raiders and PoWs from wars with the Old Forest in the past. The Ellempyr are mostly middle-class and minor aristocracy, though a large minority of their race are also slaves - though generally ‘Elite Slaves’, being favoured Household Servants of the Draconic (or their own Elven) elite. Yllendyr are mostly settlers, merchants and aristocrats from the wider Yllendyr Imperium, and besides certain criminal elements are not a slave race. It is illegal to enslave a dragon in Vaurgemyr.

Wyrms (Ruling Minority Caste - Dragons)-Literal Dragons, The giant flying fire-breathing lizards. -Wyrm means 'Dragon' in the Dragon's own language.-Once upon a time, terrifying one-dragon-armies, though the advent of guns changed that.-Live to around 300 years, with 5-10 being considered a hatchling/child, 10-20 being considered a adolscent, 20-50 being considered a young adult, 50-100 a fully grown adult, 100-200 being middle-aged/late-adult and 200-300 being considered elderly)-Dragons tend to grow rapidly in size from 0 to 20, then continue growing a steady but still significant rate until 50. Grow continues even after 50 for some dragons, who slowly stop growing once they hit 150-200.-Dragons are carnivores, eating meat... and a huge quantity of it, possibly more so than any other sapient species in the world. They also used to eat other intelligent species in great quantities in the past, though nowadays the practice is heavily restricted and requires certain conditions to legally do in the Dominion.-Significantly Higher than average psychological natural tendency towards domineering and selfish behaviour, psychologists still debate why.-Natural polygamous mating practices-Natural patriarchial family unit model and behaviour, society is however marginally more gender-equal but still patriarchal-natural tendency towards attraction of jewellery, gems and gold. Possible evolutionary importance towards using gold to protect vulnerable underbelly. Alternatively, possible religious significance, or a natural progression of domineering/selfish behaviour.-Prior to Vaurgemyr Dominion, typically were individualistic warlord-adventurers, conquering and holding states and losing them after a few decades.-Soft underbelly vulnerable to weapons, and typically was the main method to dragon-slaying in the past. Military dragons today wear armour, particularly protecting said area from projectiles, explosives and piercing weapons.

Ellempyr (Large Minority, Aristocratic Minority Caste - high elves)

Yllendyr (Dark elves, Aristocratic Minority Caste)

Valkyrians (Tiny Minority, Half/Half-caste)

Humanity (Large Minority, Slave caste)

Goblinoids (Minority, Slave caste)

Harpies (Minority, Slave caste)

Culture

Slave Society: The Dominion of Vaurgemyr is built on the back of mass slavery. Every human, harpy and Goblinoid within its borders is a slave of some kind. Elves and Valkyrians are also slaves, however, there are also many free members of these races. Before the Dragons arrived, the old High Elven Kingdom of Ellem used slavery, and when Dragons usurped control of the region from them, they decided, likely due to their inherent nature, to adopt and then perfect this… grand institution. Today, a huge portion of the Dominion’s society is comprised of slaves. There are so many slaves that they are divided into subcategories and slave social hierarchies, with Chattel slaves and Breeding stock at the very bottom, working-craftsmen slaves and conscripts following them, and even what could be considered ‘middle-class’ or 'elite slaves' including specialists such as Indentured, Household slaves, concubines and highly influential slaves such as Dragoons, Slave Calligraphers and other personal servants of Dragon aristocrats... Slavery is considered a core element of Draconian and Vaurgemyrean culture, and the Draconic elite will defend the Grand Institution to great extremes, seeing as Dragons essentially live off slavery in some form or another. Elements of Slave culture can be seen everywhere, from slave collars and chains being nearly universal (even elite slaves wear golden collars, chokers or decorative necklace-like collars), Slave Breeding Pens being common, Slave markets taking in most town and city centres and society having developed a highly rigid, caste-like reverence for hierarchy and authority… even between slaves, in fact, particularly among slaves.

Decadence, Part I (Inherent Biology): Dragons are, by their nature, callous and often tyrannical creatures. They are inherently seeking to dominate, control and exploit others - and in fact, do not feel fulfilled or content unless this is being demonstrably obvious. A Dragon in absence of this control-domination will become mentally unstable, depressed or even eventually suicidal if given long enough time - though they will typically strike out aggressively and either win or die long before this. A Dragon's intelligence may alter this though, as a rather dim Dragon may be satisfied with being a Prison Warden for example, mistaking it's position as the ownership of prisoners - meanwhile, a highly intelligent Dragon may feel satisfied in a liberal democracy if it tricks itself into seeing its employees as wage slaves. The legendary image of a greedy dragon hoarding gold, stealing princesses and lording themselves over feudal peasants with threats of fire, demands of taxation and coercion of tribute exists for a reason. This is not to say that Dragons are incapable of empathy or are universally psychopathic, but rather are psychologically oriented towards domination and exploitation. A Dragon may be kind and charitable to its slaves/owned things because it makes them look good. In the words of some radical psychologists, they are an entire race of narcissists, to varying degrees of severity. Draconic states that have existed in the past are typically unstable since they were once a singular dragon (sometimes with a small family unit or harem) establishing themselves as a one-person absolute dictatorship, these states usually sucked dry those enslaved until the dragon was eventually vanquished by knights or other heroic figures. It was only when Vaugemyr The Magnificent conquered the entirety of Ellem and established his empire did things change. Despite societal conditioning and changing norms and conditions, dragons still remain fundamentally the same beings biologically, and the modern society they have created (and partly hijacked) reflects that.

Decadence, Part II (Societal Conditions):

Nobility Above All: Aristocracy is a dominant concept in Vauregmyr. Blood and hereditary are everything, and familial and blood ties define your class and status. Noble customs are widespread throughout the culture, and dragons have adopted many aristocratic customs of the elves or made their own. The nobility are considered a higher being inherently by their nature and there is stiff resistance to class mobility - a slave can become an elite slave, but they will never be a noble. And a poor aristocrat will always be superior to a rich bourgeoise. Family history is highly regarded and descendants will often have their lives shaped by their ancestors - a son of a traitor will be barred from positions of authority for example. Aristocrats are also provided many privileges and protections not afforded to other castes.

Rule of the Disparate Peoples: The Dragon Aristocracy of Vaurgemyr are well-experienced users of divide and conquer, and use it well to control such an ethnically diverse slave empire. The Dragons pit different minorities and slaves against each other. One way this is done is through using real-life current day issues, such as Harpy culture/religion advocating for widespread consumption of humans, another slave race, to alienate or deliberately spreading and reminding slaves of historical grievances, such as the fact that it was the elves responsible for the enslavement and destruction of human culture, not the dragons (also and similarly, the enslavement of Valkyrians by humans). The nation furthermore uses the complex hierarchy of slaves to cause slaves to view each other as superior or inferior to each other. Dragons have also cleverly devised further divide-and-conquer measures by fabricating ethnic subcategories out of thin-air, dividing, for example, human slaves into "Thoroughbreds", "Mutts" and other supposed bloodline-attributes, as well as even creating sub-ethnicities on things such as hair colour. Fairness of skin is also exploited, similarly to Yllendyr racial positions. Different states within the Dominion also have different racial hierarchies with slaves, for example, the south-west is renown for having humans take a higher position on the slave hierarchy than elves.

The Carrot and The Stick: The Slavery of Vaurgemyr besides exploiting ethnic tensions between different minority groups also use various other methods to maintain control over the vast slave populations. Tactics include fear (both warranted and unwarranted) of outside forces, in particular, the undead of Anhreich and their plague as well as the Old Forest, both of which are considered existential threats and deadly menaces to the common people and slaves of Vaurgemyr - particularly humans who are particularly threatened by both. Elite slaves are also given unique rewards, such as Harpy Dragoons being rewarded with human death-row criminals to eat, or human slaves being provided extra women as concubines (humans are typically monogamous otherwise, despite living in a polygamous society). There are also examples of attempts at provoking loyalty from victims of their enemies own excesses, such as in the past supporting Valkyrians against human slavers. More uncommonly, there are also softer or enlightened slave-holders, the concept of a 'liberal aristocrat' exists but is less common. Another common element of control of the quasi-religious concept of the "Protector-Uniter". Dragons have spread the concept that they, as a race, are necessary as a means to maintain order and peace among the many diverse peoples of the world - who without them would succumb to barbarism and chaos, such as the lands of the Old Forest and Anhreich demonstrate. The Dragons were created by the gods (or are gods themselves) that through them an orderly life of peace is possible.

Polygamy and the Harem: Dragons and the Ellempyr are both races that have cultures that are aligned with dominantly polygamous practices and mating practices. For the Draconic race, this has always been so and is a natural part of their biology and evolution, while for the Ellempyr it is due to cultural and societal influences, first started by the worship of the Goddess Ast (A historical predecessor of the current revivalist cult of Astayti) and then theorised to be reinforced following centuries of Draconic rule and culture. The frequency and presence of Polygamy have acted as a double-edged sword, as while dynastic extinctions are far less common, internal dynastic blood-feuds, fratricidal, patricidal and matricidal conflicts are more common during periods of succession. In terms of Draconic familial relations, the Yllendyr Imperium's War of the Twin Emperors is not particularly surprising or morally unusual. Ellempyr, being mostly equal in genders, even practice polyandry - though this practice is far less common among Dragons (A certain Dowager-Empress aside...) and is considered an aberration. Humans and other slave races are typically monogamous - though some Elite Slave humans are occasionally rewarded with multiple wives.

The Slave-Soldiery of the Dragoon Guards: Standing above most other slaves, Dragoons are slave-soldiers either taken as babes from their mothers or recruited in-house from the children of aristocrats household slaves, regardless, they are trained from a very young age and for some, indoctrinated through methods of drugs, brainwashing, conditioning and gradual use of mind magic. Depending on the master, Their lives are typically ones of discipline and austerity - though in-house Dragoons being members of the 'slave elite' are typically given far more than what is usually expected for a slave (or even a commoner). Religion is also common, Draconic cults of personality are widespread among the Dragoon Guards, drilled into them to worship Dragons like living gods, an extension of the already existing 'Protector-Uniter' ideology that the state advocates. That said, Dragoons are given unique honours and rewards for their services - and senior Dragoons can often be found as leaders in their own right in the military hierarchy.

Reactionary-Modernism, Innovation by Necessity: Romanticism and Reactionary thought are in vogue in the Vaurgemyr, in stark contrast to the rest of the continent which is rapidly embracing rationalism and the enlightenment. Vaurgemyrean thinkers, artists and philosophers occupy an interesting position of both being unpopular among foreign academics for being philosophical heretics, while also having cult/niche followings as they fill the void of alternatives snuffed out elsewhere. Despite this reactionary intelligensia, the actual leaders of the nation and its growing industrialists remain, staunch users of technology and progress - rather using technology and industrialisation as a weapon against its original enlightened advocates, and as means to return society to a far older and 'purer' form. Religion, occultism and abstract and often irrational belief systems are also growing, particularly in the cult movements, further dividing Vaurgemyr from a continent rapidly embracing laicism and irreligion.

Instinctual Fear: The humans of Vaurgemyr, besides cultural and historical reasons for hating their fellow Harpy slaves are also irrationally afraid of them, due to inbuilt instinctual fear and threat responses, evolved over thousands of years due to harpies being a primary predator of humans, who have been eating them for thousands of years as part of their religious practices. This instinctual fear is further exploited by the Dragon overlords to further divide the slaves, though does become problematic when they are trying to get Harpy and Human slaves to work together against their enemies. Vaurgemyrean humans have also evolved other interesting quirks, such as an instinctual fear-response of looking upwards, to search the sky for dangerous predators (be they Harpy, Dragon or even Valkyrian, who while not predators have been enemies of humanity in the past).

Religion:

Religion in Vaurgemyr is highly syncretic and consists of various cults, often competing with each other and syncretically steal mythos between themselves and other religions - typically creating bizarre fused belief systems - many adopting bits and pieces of foreign religions into them while being bastardised enough to be considered a separate religion. This syncretic nature is likely due to the number of different cultures and ethnic groups inhabiting the country as uneducated but needy slaves, combined with the general irreligion of the Dragon ruling minority, who while a tiny part of the population have the vast monopoly of power and so have blocked a centralised church from forming - though Dragons do tend to build or encourage certain cults, particularly if those cults are built around themselves.

-Cult of Crom: A heretical branch of the Crom Faith of the Ahnreinn people, this human faith spread from Anhreich many centuries ago through the few independent human kingdoms that existed in the Pre-Vaurgemyr region as well as Ellem's human slaves. After the Dragon's took over Vaurgemyr, rather than crush the religion, they co-opted it. Through careful coercion and manipulation of human clerical leaders, historical records/revisionism, censorship and modified traditions the Dragon overlords of Vaurgemyr turned the Crom faith into a dragon-worshipping cult. Crom, the giver of fire and giant-god born of a volcano was remade into Crom, the Progenitor Dragon born from a volcano, that gifted mankind the secrets of fire. Dragons are viewed as demi-god like beings as descendants of Crom, and the religion's work and industrial related religious practices are used to support the productivity of slave labourers. More interestingly, however, and as a subversion of the original designer's intentions, many Dragons in regions of Vaurgemyr where Cromism is widespread have actually been converted by their own human slaves to the faith - being entities that are particularly susceptible to a religion that worships them as gods.

Notable Practices and Tenets:-Fire is holy, though not necessarily the sun.-Progenitor-Dragon Crom was born from a volcano located in Anhreich, is the forefather of all Dragons and the patron deity of civilisation, gifted fire and metalworking to humanity.-Ironworking/blacksmithing/etc is a holy activity. Priests of Crom work steel as part of their religious duties. Manufacturing and mining labourers go through religious rites and activities while performing their slave duties. -Eternal fires are a major aspect of Cromist Churches.

-Cult of the Sky King. Heretical and syncretic fusion of Valkyrian Sky King worship and Cromism. The Cult of the Sky King claims that the Volcano-born Progenitor God Crom and the Sky King of the Valkyrians are one and the same, though they believe he was not born in a Volcano but merely flew down into one and 'defeated it', stealing fire from the Volcano. The faith emphasizes the superiority of all airborne creatures as the children of the Sky King. Dragons, Valkyrians, Harpies, winged Centaurs. Even animals such as birds and Griffons. If this religion was organically formed or not is unknown.

-Cult of Elune. Derivative and pantheonic/syncretic worship of the Elven Goddess Eluna, goddess of the moon. Worshipped primarily by free elves in the north who owed their liberation to the Yllendyr Imperium's army. They worship the Luna Goddess Elune predominately over other elven deities, though minor and syncretic gods are also worshipped to a lesser extent as subordinate deities, including Astayt and the Sky God-Progenitor (see Cult of Astayt).

-Cult of Astayt. Syncretic fusion of Dragon-worship and Elven Pantheonism. Worshipped primarily by the elves not freed by Yllendyr's advance into Vaurgemyr, as well as some humans and Dragons. Fuses together various petty Elven gods and goddesses with Dragon worship, Sky God worship and even Cromism. Worships a plethora of deities with the syncretically constructed Elven Goddess Astayt, a derivative of Ast (the goddess of wealth, prosperity, peace, fertility and safety) at the head. According to their mythos, the Progenitor Dragon is the Sky King, however rather than being the ruler of all things is Astayt's consort and champion. Crom is but a mere god of blacksmithing that pitied the humans. Gold is venerated as a symbol of Astayt, and there are often fire/heat/solar symbols associated with the goddess, in contrast to her jealous (though not evil) 'sister' the goddess Elune, who symbolises darkness and the moon.

-Cult of the Wind. Syncretic Worship of the Harpy Wind Spirits, combined with ancestor worship and the worship of the Sky God-Progenitor, a Dragon God. The religion is a continuation of numerous practices and religious beliefs of the captured Harpy raiders of the Old Forest, and many still continue their religious practices of ritualised hunting and eating of sapient races - particularly humans, though rather than an annual practice it is on condition of achieving certain observations (e.g, triumph in battle).

-Cult of the Protector-Uniter. The caesaropapist civic faith of Vaurgemyr, it is a quasi-religious ideology that believes that Dragons are divine beings that exist to ensure the peace and prosperity of the lesser races, for without them all would be in chaos. Vaurgemyr the Magnificent is worshipped as a god and his descendants as living deities/demi-gods. This faith is not particularly strong in the sense of actual religious belief, however, many take the notion of the Protector-Uniter seriously, being that without dragons, Vaurgemyr's many ethnic groups would slaughter each other.

Geography

Location/Territories: Old World, South-Eastern Continent. The Purplish-Burgundy on the far-east coast.

Climate: Primarily temperate, though with cold winters and somewhat colder than the northern temperate regions. Many mountains and hills, with the northern areas of Vaurgemyr being warmer and more fertile with grasslands and fields. The border with Old Forest is militarised and includes large sections of burned down areas and actively cut-down parts from aggressive logging operations.

Military

The military of the Dominion of Vaurgemyr is, due to Yllendyre’s control and the limiting treaties they have forced on the whole continent, much ‘smaller’ than it really is. On paper, Vaurgemyr supports an army of around 50,000 troops, divided into two Corps of 20,000 each, plus a Naval Force of 5,000 marines and an ‘Air Corp’ of 5,000 air-knights. The 2-corp army, the Imperial Army, mostly consists of middle-class Ellemites and Draconic aristocratic knights playing soldier. In truth, the real military force of Vaurgemyr are the various unofficial armies of the Dominion. These forces include the Dragoons, or slave-soldier elites bred and indoctrinated towards serving specific Draconic bloodlines. The Lymwyrm Dynasty’s own person Dragoon Guard numbers now around 80,000 troops. Officially it is dubbed as a security and intelligence agency, tasked with protecting VIPS and performing counterespionage - in reality, it is a private paramilitary and true army of the Dominion. These elite slave-troops include Aerial Harpy Corps, typically tasked with escort missions from Dragons as well as even including cavalry and hidden artillery units. The Dragoon Guards of other aristocratic families are also quite large, though are private armies rather than under the command of the Golden Hoard (Throne) of Vaurgemyr.

Besides Vuargemyr’s standing force, other military units include the 300,000 Yellendyr troops that watch over the country - while not under the control of The Dominion, they do serve to defend the nation from external threats (besides keeping The Dragons in line). There are also the multitudes of millions that can be raised as conscripts in time of war - particularly since a huge number of the populace are various kinds of slaves, and as such can be called to war quite easily.

Vaurgemyr’s navy is relatively small due to the Imperium’s limiting treaties. The ships they do possess are mostly standardised Yllendyr knock-offs, with the largest vessel being Heavy Cruisers... Beyond the official navy, Vaurgemyr does also possess a merchant fleet that could be retrofitted into military vessels, particularly Q-Ships.

Vaurgemyr is one of the few nations in the world to possess an already existing, and substantial air force - consisting of a combination of Draconic flyers (typically aristocratic air-knights) supported by Harpy Dragoon escorts or lesser dragon guards. Dragons do not typically allow passengers/riders on them (less they be humiliated and disgraced), and instead performing the attacking themselves, though they will include medics and other support staff in their Dragoon escorts, and they will often carry supplies on themselves. Dragons have soft underbellies that have made them highly vulnerable in the past to arrows and random heroes with swords, and their old trick of using encrusted gold and gems fails to stop bullets - luckily, Dragons nowadays armour themselves, particularly said underbelly, with heavy modern armour and other forms of protection, including complicated flying maneuvers and living shields in the form of Harpies acting as a kind of live reactive armour, intercepting shells and other projectiles in mid-air. Dragon Air-Knights with magic will often also use magic to protect themselves besides just attacking.

Magic Prevalence/Usage: Common but unpredictable and highly varied in terms of power among Dragons, who are already armed with powerful biological flame-breathing and flight, which is further supported by magic. Dragons have come up with quite a number of creative ways of making their breath even more deadly than it was normally. Plasma alignment (For Dragons). The Ellemites are, like their Yllendyr cousins, possessing near universal magic of the Liquid element. As a multiracial slave empire, Vaurgemyr has access to the magical abilities of many different races, however, slaves magic is highly regulated and is illegal unless given certain permits. Only draconic nobility is permitted unrestricted use of magic, though certain corporate and state entities possess widespread magical licenses as well.

History/Background Info

WIP:-Elven ruled kingdoms, slavers-Dragons occasionally took over petty-states as one-dragon conqueror-dictators, inevitably fall to some hero with a bow or sword.-Chaos caused by Yllendyr’s rise/infighting allowed Vaurgemyr the Magnificient to conquer Elven Kingdoms and form empire. Begun quest of continental conquest, however was defeated by resurgent Yllendyr with guns that made Dragons highly vulnerable.-Dragons fled to mountain citadel-palaces far beyond the reach of land-based mortals. Unable to attack them, Yllendyr accepted their vassalage.-Dragons slowly regain their land and dominion over the country and slaves via using their vast mineral wealth. They convert themselves from martial-aristocrats to financial/slaver exploiter aristocrats.

Summary: A european-esque land and slaver society dominated by a ruling minority of draconic elites, who were once landowning slavers and ruled purely through brute force (by virtue of being dragons) and now are industrialist-slavers who rule through various financial and economic forces and monopolies of resources - as well as force - and are using this to rapidly industrialise their empire and turn it into the world’s leading producer of cheap goods… using even cheaper slave labour. The majority of the country are either various minorities of human, harpy, goblins and other slaves, various groups of elves that are widespread on the continent (particularly high elves) and make up the Dominion’s fledging middle-class/lower-aristocracy, and the whole thing is watched by the tiny 1% draconic ruling elite, who struggle to take back sovereignty from their Elven compatriots.

Government

The change in technology in the world ended Dragon’s individual supremacy of warfare and their ability to singularly conquer or terrorise nations. While the ruling dragon minority remained highly powerful, no longer could a single dragon inspire the terror to maintain millions of slaves. Vaurgehm’s empire, Built two centuries ago, collapsed to the onslaught of massed advanced elven technology. With the fall of the empire, the rule of the old draconic and depotistic feudal-bandit style robber barons ended through the barrel of a gun. The remaining territory under control of Vaurgehm’s descendants, the Lymwurm Dynasty, eventually went through a period of adaptation in turn - The remaining Draconic Elites desperate to maintain hold of the lands, wealth and slaves they still held under their control.

Most importantly, the Dragons of Vaurgemyr maintained control of their mountain citadel-palaces and many of their deep mines and mineral wealth. As airpower had not yet been invented, the Yllendyr conquerors could not fully evict the Dragon elite from the lands, so permitted them to remain as unconquered vassals. Draconic aristocrats morphed and changed in their societal roles, transforming from landlords to mining barons, industrialists and, eventually even aristocratic-bankers - though they continued their role as slave-lords very well, using their wealth and economic monopoly to once again ensnare the lesser races (and keep the Petty Bourgeois down). The Bank of Wurms for example while not the world’s first bank, is considered one of the world’s first ‘modern corporations’, and the Banking elite would go on to propagate the concept of a ‘separate legal entity’, particularly in comparison to the archaic guild structure of Yllendyr. The Dragons surprising innovation would become a great success, and through their great wealth and influence, gradually began the process of retaking control of their nation and performing rapid industrialisation, even under the thumb of the Yllendtyr. The economic might of Vaurgemyr now grows rapidly with the massing of factories, foundries and smoking chimneys, the combination of corporations backed by a vast apparatus of cheap slave labour has led the Dominion to possibly hoisting the elves by their own technological petard.

Today, Vaurgehm’s descendants continue to rule, though they have branched out into numerous Cadet Dynasties ruling various banks, industrial manufacturing corporations and feudal lands, and even have financial interests in the larger Yllendyr Imperium. The actual ‘Emperor’ of Vaurgemyr is but a mere hatchling, a puppet whose strings are fought over between a Yllendyr Regent appointed by the Emperor in Yllendyr, The Draconic Slaver-Aristocracy, Ellemite Bourgeois and Low-Aristocracy, Dragoon Elite-Slave Interests and even Dragon Ultranationalists who seek independence.

Economy

Vaurgemyr’s economy is dominated by a tiny minority of extremely powerful Draconic Slaver-Aristocrats, who have transformed from petty landowning sitting-bandits to full-blown Industrialist Slavers. This elite while typically decadent and complacent, exploiting feudal slaves by virtue of their physical strength as dragons and not much else, was forced into change by their catastrophic defeat to the Yllendyr, and so have embraced alien concepts like corporations and industrial-scale manufacturing, replacing Yllendyr’s old guild-artisan system and their own tributary banditry.

The ascendancy of proto-corporations has also led to the formation of the concept of the public company, and there are even talks of establishing a marketplace for ownership rights, what they are considering calling ‘shares’. Manufacturing is growing rapidly in the nation due to the opening up of finance and investment, and the economy may eventually overpower the archaic theories of the Yllendyr, even if slaves make complicated manufacturing impossible - Vaurgemyr can drown competitors in cheap labour. On the other hand, the rapid rise of manufacturing has also seen the rise of Ellemite (High Elven) low-aristocracy and even some free bourgeoisie Ellemites, the native elven majority seeing the rise of something never before conceived in these lands; a middle class. This middle class while further expanding the economy is considered a possible threat to the social order of the Dominion. The Elite Slave-Dragoon armies have also grown in influence due to the modernisation of warfare and Yllendyr’s Limiting Treaties forcing Vaurgemyr to rely on these slave paramilitary forces.

Industry: Industry is growing due to the great surplus of investment and finance, however complicated manufacturing remains underfunded due to the massive supply of cheap labour in the form of slaves. As such, manufacturing is typically more simpler mass-produced (labour intensive) items such as canned goods, steel, clothing and other small consumer goods that is simply for uneducated slaves to repeatedly put together. The production of low-quality massed and repetitive goods is extremely cheap due to said slave labour, and as such there are few competitors capable of meeting Vaurgemyr’s low costs of production.

Literacy: The Literacy Rate is moderate to low (40-50%), as while the upper class is highly literate and there is a growing educated middle-class, slavery remain legal and extremely widespread, even a core component of the culture, and as such ‘lesser races’ are both enslaved and uneducated - though there are many specialist and even ‘elite’ slaves with very specific skills such as Slave Calligraphers. Interestingly, the Draconic upper-class despite stereotypes and belief in the impracticality of it are highly well read and can even (with difficulty) write (though typically they have said specialised calligrapher slaves write for them).

Cabinet of his Most Glorious and Terrible Majesty:Regent (Nominal) and Lord Chamberlain, Nolrimi YirvaLord Chancellor, ??Lord Treasurer of the Exchequer, ???Lord Comptroller of the Household (Keeper of the Wardrobe), ???Lord High Constable & Captain-General of the Imperial Household Dragoons, ???Lord High Marshal & Chief of the Imperial Staff, ???

Population: 75 million Racial Demographics: As a slaver empire, Vaurgemyr is quite ethnically diverse and in fact is a nation of minorities, with no single majority existing. Its ruling elite is also a tiny minority in comparison to the rest of the nation. Slaves make up the majority (over 58-60%) of the Dominion’s population, however the concept of ‘slave’ is broad, as certain specialist slaves have many different rights, roles and certain privileges that other slaves lack (E.g, the chattel slaves in the mines have far fewer rights than the Elite Slave-soldier Dragoons or Household Servants of the Dragon Aristocracy). Humanity is nearly universally a slave race, as are goblins, who actually enjoy their enslavement (due to their peculiar - and to Dragons very desirable - psychology). Harpies too are a slave race and descend from captured raiders and PoWs from wars with the Old Forest in the past. The Ellempyr are mostly middle-class and minor aristocracy, though a large minority of their race are also slaves - though generally ‘Elite Slaves’, being favoured Household Servants of the Draconic (or their own Elven) elite. Yllendyr are mostly settlers, merchants and aristocrats from the wider Yllendyr Imperium, and besides certain criminal elements are not a slave race. It is illegal to enslave a dragon in Vaurgemyr.

Slave Society: The Dominion of Vaurgemyr is built on the back of mass slavery. Every human, harpy and Goblinoid within its borders is a slave of some kind. Elves and Valkyrians are also slaves, however, there are also many free members of these races. Before the Dragons arrived, the old High Elven Kingdom of Ellem used slavery, and when Dragons usurped control of the region from them, they decided, likely due to their inherent nature, to adopt and then perfect this… grand institution. Today, a huge portion of the Dominion’s society is comprised of slaves. There are so many slaves that they are divided into subcategories and slave social hierarchies, with Chattel slaves and Breeding stock at the very bottom, working-craftsmen slaves and conscripts following them, and even what could be considered ‘middle-class’ including specialists such as Indentured, Household slaves, concubines and highly influential slaves such as Dragoons, Slave Calligraphers and other personal servants of Dragon aristocrats... Slavery is considered a core element of Draconian and Vaurgemyrean culture, and the Draconic elite will defend the Grand Institution to great extremes, seeing as Dragons essentially live off slavery in some form or another. Elements of Slave culture can be seen everywhere, from slave collars and chains being nearly universal (even elite slaves wear golden collars, chokers or decorative necklace-like collars), Slave Breeding Pens being common, Slave markets taking in most town and city centres and society having developed a highly rigid, caste-like reverence for hierarchy and authority… even between slaves, in fact, particularly among slaves.

Decadence, Part I (Inherent Biology): Dragons are, by their nature, callous and often tyrannical creatures. They are inherently seeking to dominate, control and exploit others - and in fact, do not feel fulfilled or content unless this is being demonstrably obvious. The legendary image of a greedy dragon hoarding gold, stealing princesses and lording themselves over feudal peasants with threats of fire, demands of taxation and coercion of tribute exists for a reason. This is not to say that Dragons are incapable of empathy or are universally psychopathic, but rather are psychologically oriented towards domination and exploitation. In the words of some radical psychologists, they are an entire race of narcissists, to varying degrees of severity. Draconic states that have existed in the past are typically unstable since they were once a singular dragon (sometimes with a small family unit or harem) establishing themselves as a one-person absolute dictatorship, these states usually sucked dry those enslaved until the dragon was eventually vanquished by knights or other heroic figures. It was only when Vaugemyr The Magnificent conquered the entirety of Ellem and established his empire did things change. Despite societal conditioning and changing norms and conditions, dragons still remain fundamentally the same beings biologically, and the modern society they have created (and partly hijacked) reflects that.

Decadence, Part II (Societal Conditions): WIP

Nobility Above All: Aristocracy is a dominant concept in Vauregmyr. Blood and hereditary are everything, and familial and blood ties define your class and status. Noble customs are widespread throughout the culture, and dragons have adopted many aristocratic customs of the elves or made their own. The nobility are considered a higher being inherently by their nature and there is stiff resistance to class mobility - a slave can become an elite slave, but they will never be a noble. Family history is highly regarded and descendants will often have their lives shaped by their ancestors - a son of a traitor will be barred from positions of authority for example. Aristocrats are also provided many privileges and protections not afforded to other castes.

Rule of the Disparate Peoples: The Dragon Aristocracy of Vaurgemyr are well-experienced users of divide and conquer, and use it well to control such an ethnically diverse slave empire. The Dragons pit different minorities and slaves against each other. One way this is done is through using current day issues, such as Harpy culture/religion advocating for widespread consumption of humans, another slave race, to alienate or deliberately spreading and reminding slaves of historical grievances, such as the fact that it was the elves responsible for the enslavement and destruction of human culture, not the dragons (also and similarly, the enslavement of Valkyrians by humans). The nation furthermore uses the complex hierarchy of slaves to cause slaves to view each other as superior or inferior to each other. Dragons have also cleverly devised further divide-and-conquer measures by fabricating ethnic subcategories out of thin-air, dividing, for example, human slaves into "Thoroughbreds", "Mutts" and other supposed bloodline-attributes, as well as even creating sub-ethnicities on things such as hair colour. Fairness of skin is also exploited, similarly to Yllendyr racial positions.

The Carrot and The Stick: The Slavery of Vaurgemyr besides exploiting ethnic tensions between different minority groups also use various other methods to maintain control over the vast slave populations. Tactics include fear (both warranted and unwarranted) of outside forces, in particular, the undead of Anhreich and their plague as well as the Old Forest, both of which are considered existential threats and deadly menaces to the common people and slaves of Vaurgemyr - particularly humans who are particularly threatened by both. Elite slaves are also given unique rewards, such as Harpy Dragoons being rewarded with human death-row criminals to eat, or human slaves being provided extra women as concubines (humans are typically monogamous otherwise, despite living in a polygamous society). There are also examples of attempts at provoking loyalty from victims of their enemies own excesses, such as in the past supporting Valkyrians against human slavers. More uncommonly, there are also softer or enlightened slave-holders, the concept of a 'liberal aristocrat' exists but is less common. Another common element of control of the quasi-religious concept of the "Protector-Uniter". Dragons have spread the concept that they, as a race, are necessary as a means to maintain order and peace among the many diverse peoples of the world - who without them would succumb to barbarism and chaos, such as the lands of the Old Forest and Anhreich demonstrate. The Dragons were created by the gods (or are gods themselves) that through them an orderly life of peace is possible.

Polygamy and the Harem: Dragons and the Ellempyr are both races that have cultures that are aligned with dominantly polygamous practices and mating practices. For the Draconic race, this has always been so and is a natural part of their biology and evolution, while for the Ellempyr it is due to cultural and societal influences, first started by the worship of the Goddess Ast (A historical predecessor of the current revivalist cult of Astayti) and then theorised to be reinforced following centuries of Draconic rule and culture. The frequency and presence of Polygamy have acted as a double-edged sword, as while dynastic extinctions are far less common, internal dynastic blood-feuds, fratricidal, patricidal and matricidal conflicts are more common during periods of succession. In terms of Draconic familial relations, the Yllendyr Imperium's War of the Twin Emperors is not particularly surprising or morally unusual. Ellempyr, being mostly equal in genders, even practice polyandry - though this practice is far less common among Dragons (A certain Dowager-Empress aside...) and is considered an aberration. Humans and other slave races are typically monogamous - though some Elite Slave humans are occasionally rewarded with multiple wives.

The Slave-Soldiery of the Dragoon Guards: Standing above most other slaves, Dragoons are slave-soldiers either taken as babes from their mothers or recruited in-house from the children of aristocrats household slaves, regardless, they are trained from a very young age and for some, indoctrinated through methods of drugs, brainwashing, conditioning and gradual use of mind magic. Their lives are harsh and Dragoon culture emphasizes discipline and austerity. Religion is also common, Draconic cults of personality are widespread among the Dragoon Guards, drilled into them to worship Dragons like living gods, an extension of the already existing 'Protector-Uniter' ideology that the state advocates. That said, Dragoons are given unique honours and rewards for their services - and senior Dragoons can often be found as leaders in their own right in the military hierarchy.

Reactionary-Modernism, Innovation by Necessity: Romanticism and Reactionary thought are in vogue in the Vaurgemyr, in stark contrast to the rest of the continent which is rapidly embracing rationalism and the enlightenment. Vaurgemyrean thinkers, artists and philosophers occupy an interesting position of both being unpopular among foreign academics for being philosophical heretics, while also having cult/niche followings as they fill the void of alternatives snuffed out elsewhere. Despite this reactionary intelligensia, the actual leaders of the nation and its growing industrialists remain, staunch users of technology and progress - rather using technology and industrialisation as a weapon against its original enlightened advocates, and as means to return society to a far older and 'purer' form. Religion, occultism and abstract and often irrational belief systems are also growing, particularly in the cult movements, further dividing Vaurgemyr from a continent rapidly embracing laicism and irreligion.

Air Culture:

Religion:

Religion in Vaurgemyr is highly syncretic and consists of various cults, often competing with each other and syncretically steal mythos between themselves and other religions - typically creating bizarre fused belief systems - many adopting bits and pieces of foreign religions into them while being bastardised enough to be considered a separate religion. This syncretic nature is likely due to the number of different cultures and ethnic groups inhabiting the country as uneducated but needy slaves, combined with the general irreligion of the Dragon ruling minority, who while a tiny part of the population have the vast monopoly of power and so have blocked a centralised church from forming - though Dragons do tend to build or encourage certain cults, particularly if those cults are built around themselves. Despite dragons supporting cults of personalities to themselves, the largest cults are the Ellempyr splinter-branch of the Disciples of Eluna, known here as the Cult of Eulune or Elune. Other popular cult-faiths includes the Ellempyr Goddess Astayti (A goddess of love and beauty), the Cult of Mie (An Ellempyr-Human god fusing numerous human and Ellempur gods together as a deity of Prosperity and wealth, gold is holy) the Cult of the Sky (often considered a derivative of Avalian Sky-King worship mixed with Dragon worship), The Cult of Vaurgemyr (National Epic Civil Religion / Caeseropapist combined with ancestor worship, Protector-Uniter and Cult of the Sky fusion). The philosophical and quasi-religious idea of the Draconic Protector-Uniter also is widespread, though is seen more of a political reality than a true religious belief. Scientific rationalism/irreligion is uncommon, however irreligious agnosticism is common among the upper classes.

Geography

Location/Territories: Old World, South-Eastern Continent. The Purplish-Burgundy on the far-east coast.

Climate: Primarily temperate, though with cold winters and somewhat colder than the northern temperate regions. Many mountains and hills, with the northern areas of Vaurgemyr being warmer and more fertile with grasslands and fields. The border with Old Forest is militarised and includes large sections of burned down areas and actively cut-down parts from aggressive logging operations.

Military

The military of the Dominion of Vaurgemyr is, due to Yllendyre’s control and the limiting treaties they have forced on the whole continent, much ‘smaller’ than it really is. On paper, Vaurgemyr supports an army of around 50,000 troops, divided into two Corps of 20,000 each, plus a Naval Force of 5,000 marines and an ‘Air Corp’ of 5,000 air-knights. The 2-corp army, the Imperial Army, mostly consists of middle-class Ellemites and Draconic aristocratic knights playing soldier. In truth, the real military force of Vaurgemyr are the various unofficial armies of the Dominion. These forces include the Dragoons, or slave-soldier elites bred and indoctrinated towards serving specific Draconic bloodlines. The Lymwyrm Dynasty’s own person Dragoon Guard numbers now around 80,000 troops. Officially it is dubbed as a security and intelligence agency, tasked with protecting VIPS and performing counterespionage - in reality, it is a private paramilitary and true army of the Dominion. These elite slave-troops include Aerial Harpy Corps, typically tasked with escort missions from Dragons as well as even including cavalry and hidden artillery units. The Dragoon Guards of other aristocratic families are also quite large, though are private armies rather than under the command of the Golden Hoard (Throne) of Vaurgemyr.

Besides Vuargemyr’s standing force, other military units include the 300,000 Yellendyr troops that watch over the country - while not under the control of The Dominion, they do serve to defend the nation from external threats (besides keeping The Dragons in line). There are also the multitudes of millions that can be raised as conscripts in time of war - particularly since a huge number of the populace are various kinds of slaves, and as such can be called to war quite easily.

Vaurgemyr’s navy is relatively small due to the Imperium’s limiting treaties. The ships they do possess are mostly standardised Yllendyr knock-offs, with the largest vessel being Heavy Cruisers... Beyond the official navy, Vaurgemyr does also possess a merchant fleet that could be retrofitted into military vessels, particularly Q-Ships.

Vaurgemyr is one of the few nations in the world to possess an already existing, and substantial air force - consisting of a combination of Draconic flyers (typically aristocratic air-knights) supported by Harpy Dragoon escorts or lesser dragon guards. Dragons do not typically allow passengers/riders on them (less they be humiliated and disgraced), and instead performing the attacking themselves, though they will include medics and other support staff in their Dragoon escorts, and they will often carry supplies on themselves. Dragons have soft underbellies that have made them highly vulnerable in the past to arrows and random heroes with swords, and their old trick of using encrusted gold and gems fails to stop bullets - luckily, Dragons nowadays armour themselves, particularly said underbelly, with heavy modern armour and other forms of protection, including complicated flying maneuvers and living shields in the form of Harpies acting as a kind of live reactive armour, intercepting shells and other projectiles in mid-air. Dragon Air-Knights with magic will often also use magic to protect themselves besides just attacking.

Magic Prevalence/Usage: Common but unpredictable and highly varied in terms of power among Dragons, who are already armed with powerful biological flame-breathing and flight, which is further supported by magic. Dragons have come up with quite a number of creative ways of making their breath even more deadly than it was normally. Plasma alignment (For Dragons). The Ellemites are, like their Yllendyr cousins, possessing near universal magic of the Liquid element. As a multiracial slave empire, Vaurgemyr has access to the magical abilities of many different races, however, slaves magic is highly regulated and is illegal unless given certain permits. Only draconic nobility is permitted unrestricted use of magic, though certain corporate and state entities possess widespread magical licenses as well.

History/Background Info

WIP:-Elven ruled kingdoms, slavers-Dragons occasionally took over petty-states as one-dragon conqueror-dictators, inevitably fall to some hero with a bow or sword.-Chaos caused by Yllendyr’s rise/infighting allowed Vaurgemyr the Magnificient to conquer Elven Kingdoms and form empire. Begun quest of continental conquest, however was defeated by resurgent Yllendyr with guns that made Dragons highly vulnerable.-Dragons fled to mountain citadel-palaces far beyond the reach of land-based mortals. Unable to attack them, Yllendyr accepted their vassalage.-Dragons slowly regain their land and dominion over the country and slaves via using their vast mineral wealth. They convert themselves from martial-aristocrats to financial/slaver exploiter aristocrats.

On the horizon of Nova Syrome, the masts of 3 ships began to appear and inside, dozens of eager warrior looking as if they were some peasants that never left the countryside at the Celestian jewel, the so called second capital of Baltia. Those onlookers were the young recruits dragged from the pits of Tautom who knew little but their own city and Baltian-Chlotar farmland. There was however little awe as they approached closer and the city was made more visible. Finally a young blonde man of significantly higher status than most but who yet had been the most eager to see this sight spoke the common thought.

“Its kinda small, isn’t it?” It looked clean, the architecture was nice but they had all seen the towers of the richer districts. Nonnonso, a prince as he was, had seen even more of Tautom’s good side. Behind him a hearty laugh was heard as a tall and handsome man slapped the youthful prince on the back of his bronze cuirasse. “You’ve seen Tautom Nonnonso, so you’ve seen all that is worth seeing. I guess this city is much like its lord.” The man tilted his head to the side, as if trying to see another angle to this city. “A microcosm of Celesean glory, juuust a tiny spec of an old culture refusing to die.” Nonnonso could see what Theodonus was saying, though there was a major difference between Tautom and Nova Syrome. In Syrome, some of those magnificent buildings looked new, everything in Tautom was old.

“My Doux!” Someone at the other side of the boat made sign for Theodonus to approach, which he did to look down at a small coast guard vessel. The men of the Doux had smirks on their faces and rolled their eyes and Theodonus could see why. The sailors bellow they looked like… well, peasants. Weren’t they part of the military? These people are the first people to greet strangers into the city and they are a bunch of weaklings! “I cannot allow your vessels entrance to the city if you will not tell me your business!” Visibly someone had already tried to tell this man that the business of a Doux was no one else’s but his own but it didn’t seem like an acceptable answer.

Theodonus leaned against the railway and looked down sternly on the men on the craft bellow. “You tell your master that this is an official visit by the king’s Grand Domestic of the Royal Stool, Doux Theodonus son of Valaris, I’ve come to talk about important business. And tell him the Grand Domestic expects fresh wine and a meeting without delay.” He insisted on that last part. For some reasons nobles always loved to act like they were too busy to receive him, making him wait for no reason and it pissed him off.

Palace of Aetius, Nova Syrome

‘’Which one is it?’’ Belisar asked the runner, a young militiaman who had ran the way from the docks.

‘’Doux Theodonus, your excellency.’’ The runner said, panting from the long run. ‘’He… he claims to be the domesticus of the royal stool…’’

Belisar sighed. It was this imbecile again. And now the grand domesticus of the what, royal stool? He couldn’t tell if such a frivolous title was actually handed out by Orso or if Theodonus had just made it up. Of all the Douxes of Tautom, it was solely this man he could not stand, perhaps more so than even King Orso. The street fighting thug and whoreson who charged into any possible catastrophe he could create. Whenever he appeared, it always spelled bad tidings for Belisar and the kingdom as a whole… he really ought to have this man killed.

‘’Your excellency, he is demanding wine and an immediate audience, declaring he has ‘important business’’ The runner continued.

‘’I am sure’’ Belisar spoke deadpan, looking over his drawings and alchemical ingredients as if to continue grinding poisonous plants and volatile earths before sighing again. Belisar turned to his side and made hand motions to allow pages forward.

‘’Bring wine and my robes’’

Belisar upon this announcement watched as the pages ran off to do as he said, and then returned to working on his alchemy. The runner waited patiently for some five minutes before growing confused. The pages returned with wine and begun dressing the Doux. Belisar took a goblet of wine and handed it to the runner.

‘’Why, the runners of Syrome have always been lazy, useless men who are always late, the Doux Belisar will regretfully not be able to receive Theodonus’ request for another hour due to this dreadful negligence.’’

‘’Uh… as you say your excellency’’

‘’You may drink the wine.’’ Belisar then turned back to his contraptions, and went to work deliberately wasting Theodonus’ time. It was petty, but Belisar had better things to do with his time than deal with the thug lord of the ghetto scum. It would not be until an hour and twenty minutes that he would finally respond to Theodonus request accepting an audience.

But it would not be 20 minutes after the messenger had been dispatched that Theodonus, standing motionless with his troops (2 of the 3 ships had entered the harbor, unloading 80 men as the rest remained at sea), decided he had enough. “Alright, the Doux has certainly been warned of my arrival.” With this Theodonus decided to simply… walk forward. No way someone of his status wouldn’t be invited to the palace after all, and anyways, a milksop like Belisar certainly wouldn’t leave his palace during the heat of the summer. His men followed his lead without a single hesitation, the water in the canals of the city suddenly vibrating due to the disciplined footsteps of the hoplites.

A port administrator, worried of having foreign soldiers on the loose within the city, tried to interpose himself. “W-wait! What are you doing!?” Theodonus would visibly not stop for him and so the bureaucrat was forced to walk alongside him. The warrior didn’t care however for the interloper. “The Grand Domestique of the Royal Stool is going to the palace of Doux Belisar, out of my way!” The man was powerless, the guard uncertain and Theodonus, unimpressed. It was like he could walk in the damn city and do a coup! It was tempting to do so, though he probably didn’t have the men. Not that it had been his choice. One might think Theodonus only brought a hundred men because it is an appropriate escort for a man of his position, but the truth was that he didn’t have many blue water ships, he brought what he could. Thankfully, else Nova Syrome would have had an army at its doorstep.

“MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY FOR THE GRAND DOMESTIQUE!” At this point, it was impossible for Belisar to fail to know that Theodonus didn’t want to wait as his hero screamed at the top of his lung, the mass of spears advancing down the mainway to the palace.

The walls surrounding the palace were manned, heavily armoured Viigocs looking downwards in disgust. The gates opened regardless, a drawbridge over another canal lowered. Formations of Viigoc Household Guard assembled beyond, fully armoured and carrying swords, axes and banners of the House of Aetius, a single page walking out to greet the Grand Domesticus.

The assembled warriors stopped in front of their peers when their commander did. Theodonus and his men eyed the armored guards for a moment. In comparison Theodonus’s men wore bronze cuirasses of sculpted muscles with leg and arm protections, though nowhere as extensive as the Syrovigocs they’re facing. For their weapons, long sarisas, a bronze and wood shield, 2 javelins and a short sword each. To be honest, Theodonus’s men would be at a severe disadvantage in a fight against the heavily armored men facing them, but they couldn’t help but snicker, trying not to laugh at them, their cowardice and how they were probably all ugly trolls under all that armor who didn’t dare to show their faces and other features.

Theodonus raised his fist in the air to restore discipline in his rank as the page finally reached them. Theo removed his helm as a sign of respect and smiled to the page. “Ah, you must be Belisar’s son! The future looks promising. He chose his wife well if she bore him a child that doesn’t look as sickly and frail as he does.” A step behind him, Nonnonso, his shield bearer, smiled and held himself from laughing. Theodonus obviously knew this man was just a page, but instead of offending himself about Belisar sending someone of such a low status to greet him, he prefered to make a joke. Though… the prince wished his teacher would sometimes be more serious. Belisar wasn’t known to be one to take ‘jokes’.

The page, dressed in robes rather than armour appeared youthful and decidedly effeminate, seemingly smiling as he ignored Theodonus.

‘’His Excellency the Chancellor and Doux of Syrome will see you now, if you would leave your guard here and follow me, my lord’’ the page declared. He then swept his arms to indicate for him to follow.

“Of course. PATHOS!” Theodonus turned around and a 7 feet tall bearded giant saluted his lord before turning around and signaling the guard to be at ease… not that any of the warriors would dare to show a lack of discipline in front of Belisar’s men, either by pride or fear of Pathos’s lashing once they were back in Tautom. Theodonus walked, followed by Nonnonso and… five other men, armed and one of them carrying a foldable chair of an especially decorative design. “You islanders are too far from civilization, you’re forgetting basic civilities. Where is my wine?!”

The page continued walking, through sections of gardens and courtyards. The palace had clearly been voided on its occupants, as there were signs of food, equipment and other objects of the goings of noblemen, pages and courtly (and not so courtly) women left behind. All that remained were silent Syrovigoc guardsmen, their faces hidden behind steel.

Finally, the page stopped before a rampart of sorts at the edge of the palace, the decorative stone and marble facing the sea of Tears, connecting to a gazebo facing the sea. Behind rippling white silk sheets and purple flags was Belisar, sitting in a chair waiting. Around the gazebo were yet more Viigoc guardsmen.

Theodonus and his companion meant business, not stopping for details. Nonnonso on the other hand, being by far the youngest person present, was curious, his eyes wandering around. “Seems like they don’t want the ladies to look at a real man…” He whispered jokingly. Theodonus looked back at him with a smirk. “Stow that, my protegee, this is business now.” Although Theo had said with a smile and a wink, Nonnonso knew when his teacher was serious.

Finally they arrived at their destination. The prince eyes Belisar, curious about the man while the rest of the companions continued to look forward. Theodonus entered first and was followed by Nonnonso and the stool bearer who began to announce his lord. “Presenting the Grand-” He was interrupted by Nonnonso who stepped back and reached for his sword. “Watchout!” A snake! A cobra slithering on the ground! Before he could unsheath his blade however, Theodonus reached to place his hand atop of his. “Relax…” He commenced, seemingly not flustered in the slightest. “The islands are filled with snakes, there’s been hundreds around us, you just haven’t noticed.” He said, turning his gaze to stare at Belisar in the eyes, heavily insinuating things. “Let it skulk in the dark, it will do us no harm”

Still staring at the beast in its eyes, Nonnonso swallowed but controlled his fear, releasing his sword as his mentor took a seat, not bothering to be offered one. The hero cleared his throat once again to continue. “Presenting the Grand Domestique of the Royal Stool, Doux Theodonus, son of Valaris.” And with this, the man unfolded a Curule seat, the ‘Stool’, and placed it opposed to the two men sitting, as if it was the third person of the group. Casually, Theodonus handed a ring to Nonnonso who diligently placed it on the cushion of the seat. King’s Orso’s seal. The gesture was symbolic, but it meant that the two men were to speak as if King Orso was watching and of course, meant that in this matter Theodonus was his agent and his voice.

“SO!” Began Theodonus, turning his attention to Belisar. “How have you been Belisar? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you in Tautom!” He said, indulging in the ritualistic small talk that was the custom, not really caring about it… though maybe he could fit in an insult or two to the Doux, that was always fun.

“Speak, what do you want Theodonus?” Belisar said.

“So quick to business. Well then!” Said Theodonus enthusiastically as he reached to pour himself a cup of wine. “I want a great many things, but it’s not about what I want. It’s about what the KING wants.” He said, raising his glass to the empty chair.

“I am sure” Belisar said, drumming his fingers on the table in boredom. ‘’Let me repeat, what is it that you want?’’

You like to make people wait? Enjoy, asshole. Theodonus thought, taking quite the pleasure to waste the time of his fellow vassal. “Again, what the KING wants, is an increase in the contribution you make for the defense of the realm!’’

‘’Is that so? I would have thought the Steward or master of the treasury would have informed me of this… rather than the Grand Domestic… of the Stool’’. Belisar asked. ‘’Perhaps an overeager or sloppy bureaucrat has misinformed you.’’

“Oh nononono…” Theo answered, shaking his head. “Its a tax hike.” He clarified with a smile. “Also, that’s ROYAL stool for you. And the reason I’m handling this rather than a taxman is that we’re trying to change things you know? Make the bureaucracy leaner, cleaner… lighter. Less chances that coin go missing. Less bureaucrats to pay.”

“And this cutting of redundancy has led to the Grand Domestic of the.. ‘Royal’ Stool in charge of reporting changes in taxes - instead of the Steward. Clearly there must be some mistake among his highnesses council in the relaying of orders and positions’’ Belisar too then sipped his wine.

‘’I will have to speak with his highness so that we can gain clarity over this… aberration. I am sure you would agree, since you are so keen on seeking leaner… and cleaner bureaucracy’’

Meanwhile in the hallways leading up to the doors a commotion is heard. Muffled murmuring of several voices, just loud enough for the two Douxes to discern, disrupting their talks as all their eyes turned towards the back wall for a moment.With a large ‘BLAM’ the door flies open, and in there appears the same page as before, doubtlessly with something important. His face looked disturbed.

‘’...What is the meaning of this?’’ Belisar proclaims impatiently, tapping his foot as he frowns.

‘’M-my Doux… It is news from the Capital. It’s… It’s..’’

Theodonus leans backwards, turning his face towards the page. ‘’What is it now, boy? It had best be worth interrupting our very important discussion.’’

The boy, quite flustered, stammers out his report.‘’The City is being overrun by the Chlotars! They’re inside the city!’’

Belisar doesn’t blink, but his stern frown and wide-open eyes express a shock he can barely restrain.

Theodonus immediately shoots up from his chair, looking at Nonnonso.‘’Talks can wait! Nonnonso, muster the men!’’

‘’Yes!’’The young prince jumps up and darts past the page and into the hallway. Theodonus once more turns to the Syromean Doux, smugly.‘’Seems this puts a premature end to our talks. This is what your negligence of Baltia’s defenses has brought us. But rest assured, old milksop, you’ve not heard the last of me!’’

And with that last show of swagger, Theodonus too leaves the hall to head out towards the pier.

His Excellency, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Baltia, Protector of the Sea of Tears and Despot of the Isles of Syrome, Hallowed Trueborn Son of the Most Immaculate House of Aetius of the Heavenly Celeseans, Praise be god and the eternal delights of his garden.

Kingdom Allegiance:He serves the Kingdom of Baltia and its incompetent King Orso, Praise be god and the eternal delights and so forth.

Tribe:Tribe? Tribe!? A true son of the Heavenly Celeseans is of no mere tribe! (Syromean Celesean)

Character Overview:

Belisar Aetius II is the ruthless, calculating and, to his detractors, scheming Doux (Duke) of Syrome. A supposed genius and cultured man in an age of barbarism, he is a man possessed by an all consuming passion, even obsession, for the nostalgia of the times of the Heavenly Kingdom of Antiquity. He looks down on the lawless degeneracy of Tautum in shame. Shame, for what the true heirs of the Celeseans and even the unwashed Viigoc king Odovakre once were. Yet still, as Chancellor of the Kingdom that very same city is the capital of, he must endeavour to conspire in its interests at all costs - in service of that incompetent fool, Orso Baltia.

He is a renaissance man of many talents, from political rhetoric to mathematics, architecture and alchemy. He is an inventor of trinkets and devices, imitations of the glories of the Heavenly Kingdom. From a very young age his genius was detected and then shaped personally by the great Philosopher Mananaimo of the Mirrors, and under his tutelage was given a proper Celesean education in the numbers and the arts. He is well-versed in military theories and history, and is competent strategist… however for the most part delegates actual military matters to tacticians and warriors of greater calibre than himself. For all this, he is a man of grandiose and phantasmal delusions. He, so obsessed with the glory of the ancient and long-lost past refuses to admit that the age of the Celeseans is over. He truly believes that the impossible can be performed and the Heavenly Kingdom of God restored to its full glory, and the barbarians swept away. So absorbed by his own genius, he ignores the sheer impossibility of his actual success, and is overly stubbornly assured of his own superiority over all others.

Inventor:Belisar since early childhood was blessed (cursed?) with feverish obsession with Heavenly Kingdom architecture, an obsession which when combined with Mananimo’s education and his artistic talents led to him drawing thousands of admittedly grandiose and highly impractical designs for warships, castles, palaces and reconstructed wonders, from public baths to coliseums. This never stopped and actually intensified as he reached adulthood, and his once childish drawings became intricate architectural blueprints for a restored empire, outstanding yet still grandiose and highly impractical. This obsession transferred to cultural and historical nostalgia and ambitions to actually attempt to restore the Heavenly Kingdom, something his mentor Mananimo bizarrely supported despite all his apparent wisdom otherwise. His other works include the conception of ‘flame-spitting contraptions’ and other alchemical devices, as well as the infinitely less useful contraptions that King Orso commissions, such as the bronze golden-coated lion-mechanisms which roars and the twittering of bronze birds beside his throne in Tautom.

Political Animal:He may quietly despise Orso for his incompetence, negligence and obliviousness, and look down on Tautom as a dying city, but he is ruthless in obtaining and then holding as much power as he can in this dying state nonetheless. Orso, a strange and infinitely infuriating creature, both simultaneously entrusts Belisar with positions of significant power and access to counsel him, while also entirely disregarding or ignoring said counsel and warnings. It is of some relief at least that Belisar’s greatest political rivals in the Tautam court have similar frustrations when dealing with the Baltian king. Orso, a patron for all conflicting rival factions under his domain has bestowed them all with favours and penalties, often with little foresight if any - perhaps in a misguided attempt to ‘balance out’ his subordinates powerbases. Belisar’s Chancellorship, his marriage to one of Orso’s numerous sisters and even the guardianship of one of Orso’s many children and heir, Icaeas, are all useful boons in Belisar’s camp, and the combination of greater power but continued inability to influence decision making has only bred resentment.

Populist Demagogue:His influence over the people of Syrome has only grown as the Kingdom of Baltia has declined, and as the days of the Heavenly Empire and the glory of the Celesean people grows ever further away, those very same people become more and more eager to hear of Belisar's grandiose ambitions and ideals. Belisar wields a dark charisma, capable of transforming the fears and insecurities of the Celesean people, and even the Viigocs, into a weapon. A weapon which they are more than willing to become, so long as he delivers the outlandish promises. Part visionary genius, part opportunist riding Syrome’s counter-cultural backlash against Tautoms degeneration, while he may not be some great warrior of legend or tactical genius of the Ancient days, he is a revolutionary politician and orator, the kind that only societal collapse and wide-spread suffering and war can spawn.

Noble Family Man:Belisar, being a well-entrenched noble and statesmen of the Celesean peoples has a pedigree many centuries long and as expected of any noble was given an arranged marriage early on in his life to one of King Orso's sisters; said sister would end up being the Princess Anaceaia Balting. Despite his seemingly sociopathic qualities, he is relatively close to his family, even a family man, particularly since all three of them (his wife and children) are bestowed by the providence of god (by virtue of their Balting descent), that either he needs to contest power with Orso, protect himself from Orso's mind-distorting powers, or he himself is under the influence of his family's auras, subtetly corrupted by them.

Syromean Utilitarian Hedonism, Ritual Observance: As a proud member of the Celesean people and the Syromean counter-culture, Belisar partakes in and observes the ideals, rituals and traditions of its people. As Syromeans believe that the 'pleasures of gods garden in the mortal realm' must not be devalued by wanton overuse or under appreciation, the hedonistic values and practices of Baltian society are regulated by cultural traditions and rituals here rather than displayed so libertine as in Tautom. Rather than alcoholism, Belisar is a wine connoisseur who regularly cultivates and enhances the quality of his wines. Rather than exhibitionism, Belisar is a patron of arts of the human form, funding artists and sculptures and idealising the 'perfect human form'. As part of his populist (and some may say, bread and circus) agenda, he has furthermore taken this popular Syromean philosophy to the public, funding public baths, official arenas, artworks and statues, festivals, 'adulthood ceremonies' and other seedier establishments such as brothels and taverns, he has even found avenues for this who express pleasure through violence, by making connections and organising mercenaries, assassins and pirates. Belisar is of the opinion that the human condition can be moderated and controlled with sufficient power.

Cascade of Auras: Belisar has surrounded himself with the powers of providence, with his wife, twin children and his ward (the son and heir of King Orso) all having powerful auras overlapping around him. While this gives him incredible protection from assassins and misfortune... the costs are perhaps far too high, for the auras corrupt and influence his mind like any other non-god splinter. His wife's aura of superiority creates artificial feelings of jealously in Belisar towards his wife for no reason. His children's auras of appeasement warp his mind towards excessive leniency and laxness towards his children - the primary source of his blindness towards their warped minds and disturbed actions. Even his ward, the shy and weak-willed Prince Icaeas, a mere political tool can warp Belisar's mind accidentally with his aura of benevolence, bestowing feelings of empathy and guilt in Belisar artificially, feelings of regrets and guilt towards enemies that he (being near sociopathic) would otherwise never feel. Icaeas' aura in particular above all else unsettles Belisar, and because of this tries to avoid actually interacting with his own ward - often restricting his access to certain parts of the palace Belisar often frequents, and burdening Icaeas' with a rigid schedule and curfews. In contrast, he ignores his children's corruptive influence over him to his own peril.

Dishonourable: While Celeasans may see him as a visionary that will reclaim their people's lost glory and the Syrovigocs are bound to him due to a combination of respect for his ideals and ambitions as well as their own pragmaticism, the rest of the world have a notably different look on things. Belisar may be a 'strongman' in the political arena, but his methods of ruthless and pragmatic Machiavellianism and scheming and general avoidance of muscle flexing competitions and one on one duels of honour in exchange for having people off’ed in secret with poisons and arrows disgust many a barbarian. Even sects of Tautoms warriors look at Belisar as a dishonourable 'milksop'. While Belisar may be an intimidating figure, he lacks the hyper-masculinity necessary to truly be respected by the people of this post-Celeasan world, and is far too prideful and stubborn to adapt.

Douxaina Anaceaia Aetius (nee Balting)

Kingdom Allegiance:Kingdom of Baltia, Syrome

Tribe:Tautom-bred princess

Background: The wife of Belisar and younger sister of King Orso, Princess Anaceaia along with the rest of her siblings were used as political bargaining chips through political marriages by her father, before Orso was king. While Belisar since early childhood also had an arranged marriage set up by his father, the late Doux Justinius, Anaceaia was not originally his selected fiancée. Anaceaia's marriage to Belisar came about due to Orso, who took Belisar's betrothed and his own sister for himself and so, in compensation allowed Belisar to pick his wife from a line-up of others. Belisar picked Anaceaia, and so she became the Douxaina Anaceaia Aetius of Syrome.

Anaceaia and Belisar are a power couple of sorts, both having ruthless and vengeful personalities, though whilst Belisar resents Orso for his incompetence and arbitrary rule, Anaceaia holds personal grudges against her siblings for underestimating and arbitrarily altering her life. Anaceaia grew up with an intense superiority-inferiority complex, and prides herself as being the best, smartest and most beautiful of the Balting siblings. Suitably, her providence and aura is a corruption of awe, with all those around her magically influenced to see her as superior to themselves, either causing jealousy and resentment or respect and worship, regardless if she deserves it or not. Though a weaker aura than her brother the king or even her twin children, her aura has totally dominated her life and left her with resentment from others and resentment in turn towards them, as well as a fragile ego.

While Anaceaia and Belisar in quite a number of ways are birds of a feather and at times are even genuine 'lovers' as it were, their issues mostly derive from them both having domineering and egoistical personalities that often compete, particularly since Belisar too is subject to Anaceaia's aura of awe. Other issues include their contrasting backgrounds, with Belisar adhering to Syromean values while Anaceaia grew up a Balting under the constant bombardment of her father and her brother Orso's corruptive auras, as well as the degenerate culture of Tautom's palace. As such, while not as far-gone as her brother’s court, she is still a hedonist like all the other Balting dynasty.

Lord Seneca Aetius and Lady Nicaea of Syrome

Kingdom Allegiance:Kingdom of Baltia, Syrome

Tribe:Syromean

Background:The twin children of Doux Belisar, Seneca and Nicaea are mere ten year olds. Adorned with sharp and precocious intelligence, Belisar recognises the same genius in his children as he himself possesses. Unfortunately, this has led to Belisar being blind to his twin children’s most unusual... eccentricities, as well as the full scope of their Balting bloodline powers.

Belisar's twins as the nephew and niece of King Orso are blessed with the Balting sphere of Benevolence. How this manifests itself though is different to their uncle, as they instead radiate an aura of appeasement - that is, the desire to appease them, drawn from their innate demanding nature. When separated from his twin, Seneca creates a weaker aura of warping people’s minds so they progressively desire to make peace and acquiesce, to surrender or pullback for the sake of peacemaking. When separated from her twin, Nicaea creates a weaker aura, warping minds so that they progressively desire to appease her wants and satisfy her wishes. Together, their powers are amplified and fused together, forming said 'aura of appeasement'... and are a terror to behold.

These powers have been the source of much fear and concern from those under its influence, particularly the staff, pages and guards of the palace, who often worry about their unnatural need to surrender to the twins desires and partake in even the most childish of activities. The twins bend the wills of the guards to allow them entry to wherever they wish, their tutors were repeatedly fired by Belisar after being unable to teach them, only the great Mananimo seemingly having the endurance of will to teach them anything (as the tutor of Orso, he is perhaps used to those of great auras). Even their father's pet Ostropathian Cobra, Illuya, a mere animal is twisted into obeying and following the twins.

However, beyond all others in the palace, it is the children of other nobles and courtiers in the palace that are aware of the twins pervasive corrupting influence, as they are often forced to feel they need to join in to whatever sick game or activity the twins come up with - only later realising with shock and fear and what they had been compelled to do or want to do. Even Belisar himself is influenced by his own children's powers, being made blind to their excesses and never punishing them.

Suitably for their influence over the court and fitting for the nephew and niece of Orso, the twins are themselves warped and disturbed children. While they are not deliberately malevolent and hateful and in fact their intent in their eyes is friendly, they are obliviously cruel and abusive. They are capable of deviancy unsettling even among adults, having no respect for personal space and often partaking in harassment of other children. To them, they are merely 'playing' with their friends and cohorts, and since their powers enable them to twist the minds and wills of those around them... to them everyone is perfectly fine with what they are doing too! As such, they are somewhat naive, even innocent monsters, genuinely unaware of what they do is wrong (though admittedly, some of the things they do are in fact a matter of course in the city of Tautom).

Among their favourite exploits includes Prince Icaeas, their 'willing' plaything. While he may be resilient to the worst of their influence, the peer pressure caused by the twin's aura and his own weak will has lead to him becoming their favourite friend to take part in 'experiments'.

The Twins outside of their harassment of others are extremely close to each other, exemplifying the archetype of mystical and extremely creepy twins. They giggle together, finish each other’s sentences, mimic each other’s voices, seem to have an instinctual awareness of the others presence and thoughts, and their extreme closeness is further implying a relationship of unnatural intimacy beyond what most children outside of Tautom's palace court would even consider. On the bright side, their depravity has mostly be restrained to non-lethal activities, and they seem to restrain from actually killing anyone, except an early childhood maid they accidentally cursed into suicide in rage.

Alrighty, here is Doux Belisar of Syrome. Due to the nature of this character, I will be providing a disclaimer: The character is deliberately larger than life, being one of those evil genius chancellor type characters, and is the role I am supposed to be taking. Further warning, this is excessively long.

Doux Belisar II of Syrome

His Excellency, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Baltia, Protector of the Sea of Tears and Despot of the Isles of Syrome, Hallowed Trueborn Son of the Most Immaculate House of Aetius of the Heavenly Celeseans, Praise be god and the eternal delights of his garden.

Kingdom Allegiance:He serves the Kingdom of Baltia and its incompetent King Orso, Praise be god and the eternal delights and so forth.

Tribe:Tribe? Tribe!? A true son of the Heavenly Celeseans is of no mere tribe! (Syromean Celesean)

Character Overview:

Belisar Aetius II is the ruthless, calculating and, to his detractors, scheming Doux (Duke) of Syrome. A supposed genius and cultured man in an age of barbarism, he is a man possessed by an all consuming passion, even obsession, for the nostalgia of the times of the Heavenly Kingdom of Antiquity. He looks down on the lawless degeneracy of Tautum in shame. Shame, for what the true heirs of the Celeseans and even the unwashed Viigoc king Odovakre once were. Yet still, as Chancellor of the Kingdom that very same city is the capital of, he must endeavour to conspire in its interests at all costs - in service of that incompetent fool, Orso Baltia.

He is a renaissance man of many talents, from political rhetoric to mathematics, architecture and alchemy. He is an inventor of trinkets and devices, imitations of the glories of the Heavenly Kingdom. From a very young age his genius was detected and then shaped personally by the great Philosopher Mananaimo of the Mirrors, and under his tutelage was given a proper Celesean education in the numbers and the arts. He is well-versed in military theories and history, and is competent strategist… however for the most part delegates actual military matters to tacticians and warriors of greater calibre than himself. For all this, he is a man of grandiose and phantasmal delusions. He, so obsessed with the glory of the ancient and long-lost past refuses to admit that the age of the Celeseans is over. He truly believes that the impossible can be performed and the Heavenly Kingdom of God restored to its full glory, and the barbarians swept away. So absorbed by his own genius, he ignores the sheer impossibility of his actual success, and is overly stubbornly assured of his own superiority over all others.

Inventor:Belisar since early childhood was blessed (cursed?) with feverish obsession with Heavenly Kingdom architecture, an obsession which when combined with Mananimo’s education and his artistic talents led to him drawing thousands of admittedly grandiose and highly impractical designs for warships, castles, palaces and reconstructed wonders, from public baths to coliseums. This never stopped and actually intensified as he reached adulthood, and his once childish drawings became intricate architectural blueprints for a restored empire, outstanding yet still grandiose and highly impractical. This obsession transferred to cultural and historical nostalgia and ambitions to actually attempt to restore the Heavenly Kingdom, something his mentor Mananimo bizarrely supported despite all his apparent wisdom otherwise. His other works include the conception of ‘flame-spitting contraptions’ and other alchemical devices, as well as the infinitely less useful contraptions that King Orso commissions, such as the bronze golden-coated lion-mechanisms which roars and the twittering of bronze birds beside his throne in Tautom.

Political Animal:He may quietly despise Orso for his incompetence, negligence and obliviousness, and look down on Tautom as a dying city, but he is ruthless in obtaining and then holding as much power as he can in this dying state nonetheless. Orso, a strange and infinitely infuriating creature, both simultaneously entrusts Belisar with positions of significant power and access to counsel him, while also entirely disregarding or ignoring said counsel and warnings. It is of some relief at least that Belisar’s greatest political rivals in the Tautam court have similar frustrations when dealing with the Baltian king. Orso, a patron for all conflicting rival factions under his domain has bestowed them all with favours and penalties, often with little foresight if any - perhaps in a misguided attempt to ‘balance out’ his subordinates powerbases. Belisar’s Chancellorship, his marriage to one of Orso’s numerous sisters and even the guardianship of one of Orso’s many children and heir, Icaeas, are all useful boons in Belisar’s camp, and the combination of greater power but continued inability to influence decision making has only bred resentment.

Populist Demagogue:His influence over the people of Syrome has only grown as the Kingdom of Baltia has declined, and as the days of the Heavenly Empire and the glory of the Celesean people grows ever further away, those very same people become more and more eager to hear of Belisar's grandiose ambitions and ideals. Belisar wields a dark charisma, capable of transforming the fears and insecurities of the Celesean people, and even the Viigocs, into a weapon. A weapon which they are more than willing to become, so long as he delivers the outlandish promises. Part visionary genius, part opportunist riding Syrome’s counter-cultural backlash against Tautoms degeneration, while he may not be some great warrior of legend or tactical genius of the Ancient days, he is a revolutionary politician and orator, the kind that only societal collapse and wide-spread suffering and war can spawn.

Noble Family Man:Belisar, being a well-entrenched noble and statesmen of the Celesean peoples has a pedigree many centuries long and as expected of any noble was given an arranged marriage early on in his life to one of King Orso's sisters; said sister would end up being the Princess Anaceaia Balting. Despite his seemingly sociopathic qualities, he is relatively close to his family, even a family man, particularly since all three of them (his wife and children) are bestowed by the providence of god (by virtue of their Balting descent), that either he needs to contest power with Orso, protect himself from Orso's mind-distorting powers, or he himself is under the influence of his family's auras, subtetly corrupted by them.

Syromean Utilitarian Hedonism, Ritual Observance: As a proud member of the Celesean people and the Syromean counter-culture, Belisar partakes in and observes the ideals, rituals and traditions of its people. As Syromeans believe that the 'pleasures of gods garden in the mortal realm' must not be devalued by wanton overuse or under appreciation, the hedonistic values and practices of Baltian society are regulated by cultural traditions and rituals here rather than displayed so libertine as in Tautom. Rather than alcoholism, Belisar is a wine connoisseur who regularly cultivates and enhances the quality of his wines. Rather than exhibitionism, Belisar is a patron of arts of the human form, funding artists and sculptures and idealising the 'perfect human form'. As part of his populist (and some may say, bread and circus) agenda, he has furthermore taken this popular Syromean philosophy to the public, funding public baths, official arenas, artworks and statues, festivals, 'adulthood ceremonies' and other seedier establishments such as brothels and taverns, he has even found avenues for this who express pleasure through violence, by making connections and organising mercenaries, assassins and pirates. Belisar is of the opinion that the human condition can be moderated and controlled with sufficient power.

Cascade of Auras: Belisar has surrounded himself with the powers of providence, with his wife, twin children and his ward (the son and heir of King Orso) all having powerful auras overlapping around him. While this gives him incredible protection from assassins and misfortune... the costs are perhaps far too high, for the auras corrupt and influence his mind like any other non-god splinter. His wife's aura of superiority creates artificial feelings of jealously in Belisar towards his wife for no reason. His children's auras of appeasement warp his mind towards excessive leniency and laxness towards his children - the primary source of his blindness towards their warped minds and disturbed actions. Even his ward, the shy and weak-willed Prince Icaeas, a mere political tool can warp Belisar's mind accidentally with his aura of benevolence, bestowing feelings of empathy and guilt in Belisar artificially, feelings of regrets and guilt towards enemies that he (being near sociopathic) would otherwise never feel. Icaeas' aura in particular above all else unsettles Belisar, and because of this tries to avoid actually interacting with his own ward - often restricting his access to certain parts of the palace Belisar often frequents, and burdening Icaeas' with a rigid schedule and curfews. In contrast, he ignores his children's corruptive influence over him to his own peril.

Dishonourable: While Celeasans may see him as a visionary that will reclaim their people's lost glory and the Syrovigocs are bound to him due to a combination of respect for his ideals and ambitions as well as their own pragmaticism, the rest of the world have a notably different look on things. Belisar may be a 'strongman' in the political arena, but his methods of ruthless and pragmatic Machiavellianism and scheming and general avoidance of muscle flexing competitions and one on one duels of honour in exchange for having people off’ed in secret with poisons and arrows disgust many a barbarian. Even sects of Tautoms warriors look at Belisar as a dishonourable 'milksop'. While Belisar may be an intimidating figure, he lacks the hyper-masculinity necessary to truly be respected by the people of this post-Celeasan world, and is far too prideful and stubborn to adapt.

Douxaina Anaceaia Aetius (nee Balting)

Kingdom Allegiance:Kingdom of Baltia, Syrome

Tribe:Tautom-bred princess

Background: The wife of Belisar and younger sister of King Orso, Princess Anaceaia along with the rest of her siblings were used as political bargaining chips through political marriages by her father, before Orso was king. While Belisar since early childhood also had an arranged marriage set up by his father, the late Doux Justinius, Anaceaia was not originally his selected fiancée. Anaceaia's marriage to Belisar came about due to Orso, who took Belisar's betrothed and his own sister for himself and so, in compensation allowed Belisar to pick his wife from a line-up of others. Belisar picked Anaceaia, and so she became the Douxaina Anaceaia Aetius of Syrome.

Anaceaia and Belisar are a power couple of sorts, both having ruthless and vengeful personalities, though whilst Belisar resents Orso for his incompetence and arbitrary rule, Anaceaia holds personal grudges against her siblings for underestimating and arbitrarily altering her life. Anaceaia grew up with an intense superiority-inferiority complex, and prides herself as being the best, smartest and most beautiful of the Balting siblings. Suitably, her providence and aura is a corruption of awe, with all those around her magically influenced to see her as superior to themselves, either causing jealousy and resentment or respect and worship, regardless if she deserves it or not. Though a weaker aura than her brother the king or even her twin children, her aura has totally dominated her life and left her with resentment from others and resentment in turn towards them, as well as a fragile ego.

While Anaceaia and Belisar in quite a number of ways are birds of a feather and at times are even genuine 'lovers' as it were, their issues mostly derive from them both having domineering and egoistical personalities that often compete, particularly since Belisar too is subject to Anaceaia's aura of awe. Other issues include their contrasting backgrounds, with Belisar adhering to Syromean values while Anaceaia grew up a Balting under the constant bombardment of her father and her brother Orso's corruptive auras, as well as the degenerate culture of Tautom's palace. As such, while not as far-gone as her brother’s court, she is still a hedonist like all the other Balting dynasty.

Lord Seneca Aetius and Lady Nicaea of Syrome

Kingdom Allegiance:Kingdom of Baltia, Syrome

Tribe:Syromean

Background:The twin children of Doux Belisar, Seneca and Nicaea are mere ten year olds. Adorned with sharp and precocious intelligence, Belisar recognises the same genius in his children as he himself possesses. Unfortunately, this has led to Belisar being blind to his twin children’s most unusual... eccentricities, as well as the full scope of their Balting bloodline powers.

Belisar's twins as the nephew and niece of King Orso are blessed with the Balting sphere of Benevolence. How this manifests itself though is different to their uncle, as they instead radiate an aura of appeasement - that is, the desire to appease them, drawn from their innate demanding nature. When separated from his twin, Seneca creates a weaker aura of warping people’s minds so they progressively desire to make peace and acquiesce, to surrender or pullback for the sake of peacemaking. When separated from her twin, Nicaea creates a weaker aura, warping minds so that they progressively desire to appease her wants and satisfy her wishes. Together, their powers are amplified and fused together, forming said 'aura of appeasement'... and are a terror to behold.

These powers have been the source of much fear and concern from those under its influence, particularly the staff, pages and guards of the palace, who often worry about their unnatural need to surrender to the twins desires and partake in even the most childish of activities. The twins bend the wills of the guards to allow them entry to wherever they wish, their tutors were repeatedly fired by Belisar after being unable to teach them, only the great Mananimo seemingly having the endurance of will to teach them anything (as the tutor of Orso, he is perhaps used to those of great auras). Even their father's pet Ostropathian Cobra, Illuya, a mere animal is twisted into obeying and following the twins.

However, beyond all others in the palace, it is the children of other nobles and courtiers in the palace that are aware of the twins pervasive corrupting influence, as they are often forced to feel they need to join in to whatever sick game or activity the twins come up with - only later realising with shock and fear and what they had been compelled to do or want to do. Even Belisar himself is influenced by his own children's powers, being made blind to their excesses and never punishing them.

Suitably for their influence over the court and fitting for the nephew and niece of Orso, the twins are themselves warped and disturbed children. While they are not deliberately malevolent and hateful and in fact their intent in their eyes is friendly, they are obliviously cruel and abusive. They are capable of deviancy unsettling even among adults, having no respect for personal space and often partaking in harassment of other children. To them, they are merely 'playing' with their friends and cohorts, and since their powers enable them to twist the minds and wills of those around them... to them everyone is perfectly fine with what they are doing too! As such, they are somewhat naive, even innocent monsters, genuinely unaware of what they do is wrong (though admittedly, some of the things they do are in fact a matter of course in the city of Tautom).

Among their favourite exploits includes Prince Icaeas, their 'willing' plaything. While he may be resilient to the worst of their influence, the peer pressure caused by the twin's aura and his own weak will has lead to him becoming their favourite friend to take part in 'experiments'.

The Twins outside of their harassment of others are extremely close to each other, exemplifying the archetype of mystical and extremely creepy twins. They giggle together, finish each other’s sentences, mimic each other’s voices, seem to have an instinctual awareness of the others presence and thoughts, and their extreme closeness is further implying a relationship of unnatural intimacy beyond what most children outside of Tautom's palace court would even consider. On the bright side, their depravity has mostly be restrained to non-lethal activities, and they seem to restrain from actually killing anyone, except an early childhood maid they accidentally cursed into suicide in rage.

His Excellency, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Baltia, Protector of the Sea of Tears and Despot of the Isles of Syrome, Hallowed Trueborn Son of the Most Immaculate House of Aetius of the Heavenly Celeseans, Praise be god and the eternal delights of his garden.

Kingdom Allegiance:He serves the Kingdom of Baltia and its incompetent King Orso, Praise be god and the eternal delights and so forth.

Tribe:Tribe? Tribe!? A true son of the Heavenly Celeseans is of no mere tribe! (Syromean Celesean)

Character Overview:

Belisar Aetius II is the ruthless, calculating and, to his detractors, scheming Doux (Duke) of Syrome. A supposed genius and cultured man in an age of barbarism, he is a man possessed by an all consuming passion, even obsession, for the nostalgia of the times of the Heavenly Kingdom of Antiquity. He looks down on the lawless degeneracy of Tautum in shame. Shame, for what the true heirs of the Celeseans and even the unwashed Viigoc king Odovakre once were. Yet still, as Chancellor of the Kingdom that very same city is the capital of, he must endeavour to conspire in its interests at all costs - in service of that incompetent fool, Orso Baltia.

He is a renaissance man of many talents, from political rhetoric to mathematics, architecture and alchemy. He is an inventor of trinkets and devices, imitations of the glories of the Heavenly Kingdom. From a very young age his genius was detected and then shaped personally by the great Philosopher Mananaimo of the Mirrors, and under his tutelage was given a proper Celesean education in the numbers and the arts. He is well-versed in military theories and history, and is competent strategist… however for the most part delegates actual military matters to tacticians and warriors of greater calibre than himself. For all this, he is a man of grandiose and phantasmal delusions. He, so obsessed with the glory of the ancient and long-lost past refuses to admit that the age of the Celeseans is over. He truly believes that the impossible can be performed and the Heavenly Kingdom of God restored to its full glory, and the barbarians swept away. So absorbed by his own genius, he ignores the sheer impossibility of his actual success, and is overly stubbornly assured of his own superiority over all others.

Inventor:Belisar since early childhood was blessed (cursed?) with feverish obsession with Heavenly Kingdom architecture, an obsession which when combined with Mananimo’s education and his artistic talents led to him drawing thousands of admittedly grandiose and highly impractical designs for warships, castles, palaces and reconstructed wonders, from public baths to coliseums. This never stopped and actually intensified as he reached adulthood, and his once childish drawings became intricate architectural blueprints for a restored empire, outstanding yet still grandiose and highly impractical. This obsession transferred to cultural and historical nostalgia and ambitions to actually attempt to restore the Heavenly Kingdom, something his mentor Mananimo bizarrely supported despite all his apparent wisdom otherwise. His other works include the conception of ‘flame-spitting contraptions’ and other alchemical devices, as well as the infinitely less useful contraptions that King Orso commissions, such as the bronze golden-coated lion-mechanisms which roars and the twittering of bronze birds beside his throne in Tautom.

Political Animal:He may quietly despise Orso for his incompetence, negligence and obliviousness, and look down on Tautom as a dying city, but he is ruthless in obtaining and then holding as much power as he can in this dying state nonetheless. Orso, a strange and infinitely infuriating creature, both simultaneously entrusts Belisar with positions of significant power and access to counsel him, while also entirely disregarding or ignoring said counsel and warnings. It is of some relief at least that Belisar’s greatest political rivals in the Tautam court have similar frustrations when dealing with the Baltian king. Orso, a patron for all conflicting rival factions under his domain has bestowed them all with favours and penalties, often with little foresight if any - perhaps in a misguided attempt to ‘balance out’ his subordinates powerbases. Belisar’s Chancellorship, his marriage to one of Orso’s numerous sisters and even the guardianship of one of Orso’s many children and heir, Icaeas, are all useful boons in Belisar’s camp, and the combination of greater power but continued inability to influence decision making has only bred resentment.

Populist Demagogue:His influence over the people of Syrome has only grown as the Kingdom of Baltia has declined, and as the days of the Heavenly Empire and the glory of the Celesean people grows ever further away, those very same people become more and more eager to hear of Belisar's grandiose ambitions and ideals. Belisar wields a dark charisma, capable of transforming the fears and insecurities of the Celesean people, and even the Viigocs, into a weapon. A weapon which they are more than willing to become, so long as he delivers the outlandish promises. Part visionary genius, part opportunist riding Syrome’s counter-cultural backlash against Tautoms degeneration, while he may not be some great warrior of legend or tactical genius of the Ancient days, he is a revolutionary politician and orator, the kind that only societal collapse and wide-spread suffering and war can spawn.

Noble Family Man:Belisar, being a well-entrenched noble and statesmen of the Celesean peoples has a pedigree many centuries long and as expected of any noble was given an arranged marriage early on in his life to one of King Orso's sisters; said sister would end up being the Princess Anaceaia Balting. Despite his seemingly sociopathic qualities, he is relatively close to his family, even a family man, particularly since all three of them (his wife and children) are bestowed by the providence of god (by virtue of their Balting descent), that either he needs to contest power with Orso, protect himself from Orso's mind-distorting powers, or he himself is under the influence of his family's auras, subtetly corrupted by them.

Syromean Utilitarian Hedonism, Ritual Observance: As a proud member of the Celesean people and the Syromean counter-culture, Belisar partakes in and observes the ideals, rituals and traditions of its people. As Syromeans believe that the 'pleasures of gods garden in the mortal realm' must not be devalued by wanton overuse or under appreciation, the hedonistic values and practices of Baltian society are regulated by cultural traditions and rituals here rather than displayed so libertine as in Tautom. Rather than alcoholism, Belisar is a wine connoisseur who regularly cultivates and enhances the quality of his wines. Rather than exhibitionism, Belisar is a patron of arts of the human form, funding artists and sculptures and idealising the 'perfect human form'. As part of his populist (and some may say, bread and circus) agenda, he has furthermore taken this popular Syromean philosophy to the public, funding public baths, official arenas, artworks and statues, festivals, 'adulthood ceremonies' and other seedier establishments such as brothels and taverns, he has even found avenues for this who express pleasure through violence, by making connections and organising mercenaries, assassins and pirates. Belisar is of the opinion that the human condition can be moderated and controlled with sufficient power.

Cascade of Auras: Belisar has surrounded himself with the powers of providence, with his wife, twin children and his ward (the son and heir of King Orso) all having powerful auras overlapping around him. While this gives him incredible protection from assassins and misfortune... the costs are perhaps far too high, for the auras corrupt and influence his mind like any other non-god splinter. His wife's aura of superiority creates artificial feelings of jealously in Belisar towards his wife for no reason. His children's auras of appeasement warp his mind towards excessive leniency and laxness towards his children - the primary source of his blindness towards their warped minds and disturbed actions. Even his ward, the shy and weak-willed Prince Icaeas, a mere political tool can warp Belisar's mind accidentally with his aura of benevolence, bestowing feelings of empathy and guilt in Belisar artificially, feelings of regrets and guilt towards enemies that he (being near sociopathic) would otherwise never feel. Icaeas' aura in particular above all else unsettles Belisar, and because of this tries to avoid actually interacting with his own ward - often restricting his access to certain parts of the palace Belisar often frequents, and burdening Icaeas' with a rigid schedule and curfews. In contrast, he ignores his children's corruptive influence over him to his own peril.

Dishonourable: While Celeasans may see him as a visionary that will reclaim their people's lost glory and the Syrovigocs are bound to him due to a combination of respect for his ideals and ambitions as well as their own pragmaticism, the rest of the world have a notably different look on things. Belisar may be a 'strongman' in the political arena, but his methods of ruthless and pragmatic Machiavellianism and scheming and general avoidance of muscle flexing competitions and one on one duels of honour in exchange for having people off’ed in secret with poisons and arrows disgust many a barbarian. Even sects of Tautoms warriors look at Belisar as a dishonourable 'milksop'. While Belisar may be an intimidating figure, he lacks the hyper-masculinity necessary to truly be respected by the people of this post-Celeasan world, and is far too prideful and stubborn to adapt.

Douxaina Anaceaia Aetius (nee Balting)

Kingdom Allegiance:Kingdom of Baltia, Syrome

Tribe:Tautom-bred princess

Background: The wife of Belisar and younger sister of King Orso, Princess Anaceaia along with the rest of her siblings were used as political bargaining chips through political marriages by her father, before Orso was king. While Belisar since early childhood also had an arranged marriage set up by his father, the late Doux Justinius, Anaceaia was not originally his selected fiancée. Anaceaia's marriage to Belisar came about due to Orso, who took Belisar's betrothed and his own sister for himself and so, in compensation allowed Belisar to pick his wife from a line-up of others. Belisar picked Anaceaia, and so she became the Douxaina Anaceaia Aetius of Syrome.

Anaceaia and Belisar are a power couple of sorts, both having ruthless and vengeful personalities, though whilst Belisar resents Orso for his incompetence and arbitrary rule, Anaceaia holds personal grudges against her siblings for underestimating and arbitrarily altering her life. Anaceaia grew up with an intense superiority-inferiority complex, and prides herself as being the best, smartest and most beautiful of the Balting siblings. Suitably, her providence and aura is a corruption of awe, with all those around her magically influenced to see her as superior to themselves, either causing jealousy and resentment or respect and worship, regardless if she deserves it or not. Though a weaker aura than her brother the king or even her twin children, her aura has totally dominated her life and left her with resentment from others and resentment in turn towards them, as well as a fragile ego.

While Anaceaia and Belisar in quite a number of ways are birds of a feather and at times are even genuine 'lovers' as it were, their issues mostly derive from them both having domineering and egoistical personalities that often compete, particularly since Belisar too is subject to Anaceaia's aura of awe. Other issues include their contrasting backgrounds, with Belisar adhering to Syromean values while Anaceaia grew up a Balting under the constant bombardment of her father and her brother Orso's corruptive auras, as well as the degenerate culture of Tautom's palace. As such, while not as far-gone as her brother’s court, she is still a hedonist like all the other Balting dynasty.

Lord Seneca Aetius and Lady Nicaea of Syrome

Kingdom Allegiance:Kingdom of Baltia, Syrome

Tribe:Syromean

Background:The twin children of Doux Belisar, Seneca and Nicaea are mere ten year olds. Adorned with sharp and precocious intelligence, Belisar recognises the same genius in his children as he himself possesses. Unfortunately, this has led to Belisar being blind to his twin children’s most unusual... eccentricities, as well as the full scope of their Balting bloodline powers.

Belisar's twins as the nephew and niece of King Orso are blessed with the Balting sphere of Benevolence. How this manifests itself though is different to their uncle, as they instead radiate an aura of appeasement - that is, the desire to appease them, drawn from their innate demanding nature. When separated from his twin, Seneca creates a weaker aura of warping people’s minds so they progressively desire to make peace and acquiesce, to surrender or pullback for the sake of peacemaking. When separated from her twin, Nicaea creates a weaker aura, warping minds so that they progressively desire to appease her wants and satisfy her wishes. Together, their powers are amplified and fused together, forming said 'aura of appeasement'... and are a terror to behold.

These powers have been the source of much fear and concern from those under its influence, particularly the staff, pages and guards of the palace, who often worry about their unnatural need to surrender to the twins desires and partake in even the most childish of activities. The twins bend the wills of the guards to allow them entry to wherever they wish, their tutors were repeatedly fired by Belisar after being unable to teach them, only the great Mananimo seemingly having the endurance of will to teach them anything (as the tutor of Orso, he is perhaps used to those of great auras). Even their father's pet Ostropathian Cobra, Illuya, a mere animal is twisted into obeying and following the twins.

However, beyond all others in the palace, it is the children of other nobles and courtiers in the palace that are aware of the twins pervasive corrupting influence, as they are often forced to feel they need to join in to whatever sick game or activity the twins come up with - only later realising with shock and fear and what they had been compelled to do or want to do. Even Belisar himself is influenced by his own children's powers, being made blind to their excesses and never punishing them.

Suitably for their influence over the court and fitting for the nephew and niece of Orso, the twins are themselves warped and disturbed children. While they are not deliberately malevolent and hateful and in fact their intent in their eyes is friendly, they are obliviously cruel and abusive. They are capable of deviancy unsettling even among adults, having no respect for personal space and often partaking in harassment of other children. To them, they are merely 'playing' with their friends and cohorts, and since their powers enable them to twist the minds and wills of those around them... to them everyone is perfectly fine with what they are doing too! As such, they are somewhat naive, even innocent monsters, genuinely unaware of what they do is wrong (though admittedly, some of the things they do are in fact a matter of course in the city of Tautom).

Among their favourite exploits includes Prince Icaeas, their 'willing' plaything. While he may be resilient to the worst of their influence, the peer pressure caused by the twin's aura and his own weak will has lead to him becoming their favourite friend to take part in 'experiments'.

The Twins outside of their harassment of others are extremely close to each other, exemplifying the archetype of mystical and extremely creepy twins. They giggle together, finish each other’s sentences, mimic each other’s voices, seem to have an instinctual awareness of the others presence and thoughts, and their extreme closeness is further implying a relationship of unnatural intimacy beyond what most children outside of Tautom's palace court would even consider. On the bright side, their depravity has mostly be restrained to non-lethal activities, and they seem to restrain from actually killing anyone, except an early childhood maid they accidentally cursed into suicide in rage.

Locations of Interest

Nova Syome: Built partially on top of part of the ruins of Old Syrome, partially built adjacent to them, Nova Syrome is a city built very much in the image of Celesean culture and architectual senses. Concrete here is a common sight in buildings, a substance that is yet another holdout of the fallen Heavenly Kingdom. Besides concrete, marble and stone are favoured for the wealthier or more important constructs. The city has numerous major canals running through the city, the water flowing through the submerged streets of Old into Nova Syrome. Bridges criss-cross over the canals while boats pass underneath them. The city is positioned beside the Sea of Tears and as such has a large dock often filled with merchant ships.